Election Commission

Tribal Members- This Article is written as an effort to keep you informed as to the facts of the Election Process 2021.

The Filing period was open January 1-10. Since the and were a Saturday and Sunday the Candidate packets had to be submitted by 5 pm on January 8, 2021.

Four packets were received and reviewed on January 8. As of 2-2-21 the following is true:

1. James Cody Spybuck, Jr's packet was accepted as complete and he was accepted as a potential candidate as Election Commission Secretary but failed to provide his Drug Test by the deadline date. He was then disqualified as a candidate.

2. Sasha Almanza's packet was accepted as complete. She was accepted as a potential candidate as Commission Member #2 but submitted a Withdrawal Letter

3. Meredith Wahpekeche's packet was accepted as complete and she was accepted as a potential candidate. After further review, the Election Commission determined that the candidate failed to complete a section of the Declaration Page and was disqualified as a candidate.

4. Paulette Blanchard's packet was not accepted. She failed to follow the Filing Procedure. She is not recorded as picking up a packet (Miele I V, Section 5A). She was not accepted as a potential candidate.

There are no Candidates. The Commission determined that with no Candidates there is no need for an Election. According to the March Election Policy a joint meeting was held with the Executive Committee on 2-2-21.

At the Joint Meeting it was proposed that the filing period be reopened and we restart the process. 'Ihe Election Commission is of the opinion that the Constitution and Ordinance prevents a restart. The Commission concluded that the course of action they choose to follow is to request the Court System to determine what action is appropriate when there are no Candidates. This has never happened before. We will wait for Court Guidance before any action is taken. This may happen again since the change to four year terms for Executive Committee has created Election years that has only Election Commission Positions.

Per the Media Policy we are scheduled to place in the March Newsletter the Sample Ballot; the Poll locations; the Voting times; and Poll Behavior. Since there are no candidates these items are not pertinent. We have requested that we be placed on the Agenda of the Spring General Council so Tribal members can be informed of a request to schedule the Elections to be in the same years. We will provide more information as it becomes available.