OR.COLL.
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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
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