Have you voted yet? If not, there’s still time — but just barely. The polls close at 8 p.m on Tuesday, May 21. If you want your ballot to be counted, you have until then to do one of two things: Either hand-deliver it to one of Grant County’s two drop boxes — outside the sheriff’s office at 205 S. Humbolt St. in Canyon City, or inside the County Clerk’s Office in the courthouse next door — or drop it in the mail (mailed-in ballots postmarked before 8 p.m on Election Day can still be counted if received by the clerk’s office within seven days).

If you’re still deciding how to mark your ballot, we can help: Check out the Eagle’s archived elections coverage online at bluemountaineagle.com/news/elections/. You’ll find all our stories on the May 21 election. That includes our extensive coverage of local races for county judge, county commissioner, justice of the peace and county treasurer as well as coverage from Eagle reporters and our EO Media news partners of races for the state Legislature, statewide offices such as secretary of state and attorney general, and key Oregon congressional seats.

On election night, you’ll also find our coverage of the outcome of all our local races as soon as possible after the polls close by reporter Neil Nisperos. (The election doesn’t end until after the Eagle goes to press on Tuesday afternoon, so Neil’s full report won’t appear in print until next week.)

I hope you had a chance to see our coverage of a rare appearance of the aurora borealis in Grant County in last week’s paper. I drove up to the industrial park by the airport to take in the sight. I carefully prepared the aperture, ISO and shutter speed on my camera, mounted it on a tripod and set the timer so the camera wouldn’t shake when the shutter released. I waited for the perfect moment to take my pictures — and it never came. I got totally skunked.

But a number of Eagle readers captured glorious images of the celestial sky show from all over Grant County and generously shared them with us. We published seven reader-submitted photos in our May 15 edition, which made for one of the Eagle’s most colorful front pages ever. If you missed the print edition, you can still read our story and check out all those wonderful reader-submitted photos on our website by clicking here.

Last week’s paper also had stories on a $1.5 million lawsuit against the Grant School District, a new boutique in John Day, a wolf depredation near Prairie City, and the achievements of local high school athletes in golf, softball and baseball.

And coming up this week, you’ll read about a new recall campaign, the grand opening of Painted Sky’s new building, a visit by Sen. Jeff Merkley and the moving of the burn boss trial to federal court.

———

Having trouble accessing the Blue Mountain Eagle online? We can help. We want you to get full value out of your Eagle subscription, and that includes seamless access to our website and our cellphone app.

We know that navigating online platforms can be tricky, but our office manager, Alix Hand, is a whiz at this stuff, and she’s available two days a week to provide our subscribers with in-person assistance. Stop by our office at 195 N. Canyon Blvd. in John Day during business hours on Wednesday or Friday and let Alix help you get connected. For best results, bring your smartphone, laptop or tablet with you.

There’s also an online directory of help videos to show you how to activate your account, log in to the e-Edition and more at https://eomediagroup.com/docs. If you have problems, our customer service center is full of nice people who can help you — call them at 800-781-3214 or send an email to support@eomediagroup.com.

———

As always, if you have comments or questions about the Eagle, or want to pass along a story idea, send me an email at this address: editor@bmeagle.com.

— Bennett Hall, Editor