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OR.COLL. s, v. no. & IETZNEWS J . a_ L.Öhihly publication by the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians Vol. 30, No. 6, June 2002 Court Rules Tribal Election Valid by Craig Dorsay Tribal Council members “dig in” at the child care center site. Child Care Center Construction Starts The Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians of Oregon held a ground-breaking ceremony for its new child care center on April 20 and three days later, construction was under way. The Siletz Tribal Council, including new council member David Hatch, turned over the first shovels of dirt at the site. Delores Pigsley praised the project. “This facility is worth its weight in gold,” she said, especially for smaller children and the after-school kids. “This is just the beginning of good things for our kids.” See Child Care on page 11. The cases of Loraine Butler v. Siletz Tribal Election Board and Lori Johnson v. Siletz Election Director, Siletz Tribal Court, Case Nos. TC02-02 and TC02-03, challenged the annual Siletz Tribal Council election held on Feb. 2, 2002, and sought to overturn that election and have a brand new election called. The Siletz Tribal Court issued its decision on April 29, 2002, in these cases. Plaintiffs in the two election cases were given the opportunity to prove all of their allegations in court at a hearing held on April 4, 2002, that lasted eight hours. Petitioners were given the opportunity to put on all the testimony and introduce all of the evidence they had. They also were given the opportunity before the hearing to examine all relevant documents and records in the case; nothing was withheld from them. The Siletz Tribal Court, after reviewing all of the testimony and evidence, ruled that the petitioners had not proven any of their allegations, that the “2002 Tribal Council election (was conducted) in a fair, honest, and professional manner, ” and that “every qualified tribal member’s vote was counted and there existed no evidence of fraud or illegal conduct. ” The court found that “the vote count was accurate and the possibility that a recount would change the vote totals is extremely remote. ” I want to address a few of the specific allegations and what the Tribal Court found with regard to these allegations. “announced” the number of mail-in ballots that had been received before the ballot box was opened and the votes were counted, and when the official written certification of the Tribal Council election was published later, a different number of mail-in ballots was listed. First, the evidence showed that the number of ballots in the ballot box - both mail-in and in-person ballots - exactly matched the number of ballots cast. Petitioners and their friends were given the opportunity to count the ballots as part of their lawsuit and were unable to show a different number of ballots. The Election Board also kept the ballot envelopes in which the ballots were inserted and the number of these envelopes also exactly matched the number of ballots cast. The election director’s an nouncement of the number of mail-in ballots he thought he had before the voting began was not a “certification” of the ballot count. The court ruled that it was only an announcement and the official certification occurred when the Election Board issued its official certification. The Election Ordinance is primarily concerned with the vote count See Court on page 21. What’s Inside Letters to the Editor Chairman’s Report Tribal Program News Tribal Member News Charitable Contributions Notices Tribal Council Timesheets Siletz Clinic Chinook Winds Passages a. The election director committed fraud by “certifying” two different ballot counts. This allegation refers to Construction begins on the child care center in Siletz. Siletz News Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians P.O. Box 549 Siletz, OR 97380 Delores Pigsley, Tribal Chairman Brenda Bremner, General Manager and Editor-in-Chief the fact that the election director University of Oregon Library Received on: 05-31-02 Siletz news 2 3 5 12 14 14 16 18 19 21 J V PRESORTED FIRST CLASS U.S. POSTAGE PAID SILETZ., OR 97380 PERMIT NO. 2
