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The November elections are just around the corner and there is a lot to keep track of when it comes to things like registering to vote, absentee ballot applications and voter ID requirements.

That’s why Marfa Public Radio is here with your guide on what and when you need to do to vote in the 2020 elections.

Marfa Public Radio is one of the most awarded small-market stations in the nation for excellence in journalism. MPR serves approximately 30,000 square miles of Far West Texas, plus an online streaming audience worldwide.

By Trinady Joslin, The Texas Tribune

Disability rights activists say they’re worried the confusion may deter at-risk Texans from voting or cause them to needlessly put their health at risk to show up in person at the polls despite being eligible for mail-in voting.

Citing a disability is among the few reasons that Texans can qualify to vote by mail during the pandemic this November — in addition to being 65 or older, being outside of their county during the election, or being confined to jail but otherwise eligible to vote.

By Kyra Buckley, Houston Public Media

Oil producers in the Permian Basin are implementing new technology to better measure methane emissions. 

The computer program will help oil and gas companies track how much methane they’re emitting, and what methods are best reducing methane leaks. It was created by the nonprofit environmental group, the Rocky Mountain Institute, along with the firm SphericalAnalytics. 

By Carlos Morales

In one of the hardest-to-count corners of Texas, advocates pushing Census participation are running out of time. 

With little time left, local officials are hoping to double the number of people in Presidio County who’ve been counted since March in less than two weeks. But mixed messages from the federal government—and coronavirus restrictions— have made it even harder for Census workers to get an accurate count. 

By Patrick Svitek, Texas Tribune

Gov. Greg Abbott announced Thursday that most of Texas will be able to loosen some coronavirus restrictions, including letting many businesses increase their capacity to 75%, as soon as Monday.

By Lomi Kriel, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica

Department of Homeland Security and Justice Department inspectors general are investigating allegations that ICE guards assaulted detainees in camera blind spots.

The U.S. government late Monday deported a crucial witness in an ongoing investigation into allegations of sexual assault and harassment at an El Paso immigrant detention center, the witness’ lawyers said.

By Edgar Walters and Shannon Najmabadi, The Texas Tribune

The Texas Department of State Health Services said it will now rely on a calculation that takes into account the date on which a coronavirus test was administered, rather than when it was reported.

Texas health officials announced Monday that they are changing the way the state reports a key metric used to evaluate the extent of coronavirus infection, a move that conceded that the state’s previous method of calculating the “positivity rate” muddied the extent of viral transmission by mixing old data with new.

By Stephen Paulsen, The Big Bend Sentinel

MARFA — Late last month, seniors at Marfa Independent School District participated in a years-long tradition as they painted North Gonzales Street in front of the school to commemorate the next academic year. But as students and school officials grapple with a range of new coronavirus precautions, it’s unlikely this fall semester will look like previous ones.

By Carlos Morales

The adobe walls of Marfa’s Blackwell School once provided the only classrooms for young Mexican-American students in this pocket of rural West Texas. Now, the century-old building could become a national landmark, preserving students’ legacies and teaching future generations the history of segregation along the Texas-Mexico border. 

By Carlos Morales

Quiet and Loud is a new series exploring the way the pandemic has changed the soundscape of West Texas.

One of the first places we’ll explore is the desert expanse of Big Bend National Park, where the pandemic has led to two closures and restricted visitors to day-time use only.

By Carlos Morales

The wide-open expanses of Big Bend National Park could grow slightly more if a small Far West Texas ranch is absorbed into the park’s boundaries. 

A donation of a few thousand acres in South Terlingua could soon be added to the park’s limits, which currently stretches over 800,000 acres of brushy Chihuahuan Desert. But before that can happen, the land acquisition would first require federal legislation to amend the boundaries of the park. 

The Lost Horse Saloon, one of Marfa’s most iconic locales, is entering a new chapter. Longtime owners Ty Mitchell and Astrid Rosenfeld have sold the bar to Michael Shaddox, of Ruidosa.