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About Siletz news / (Siletz, OR) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (June 1, 2002)
Robert Daniel Pronovost - Congratulations on your completion of high school. We also would like to congratulate you on your acceptance to Stanford University. Way to go! Love. Dad. Kim, Jeanele, Matthew. George, Nicholas, and Joshua To my husband, Chad Goodell - Happy Father’s Day and many more together and forever. I love you. Love you for past, present, and future, Christine Happy Father’s Day, Dad. We love you and hope you’re home soon. Love, your Goodell Tribe, Ryan, Chaz, Dooz, and Konners Court, con't from page 1. - how many votes each candidate received. Petitioners made no allegations that the vote count was inaccurate (many tribal members kept count when the vote was counted in public on Feb. 2) and no evidence was proven that it was inaccurate. So how come the election director’s first announcement of the number of mail-in ballots was different than the official certification (a difference of 12)? The answer has to do with the way the election is run. Mail-in votes started coming in on Jan. 7, 2002, but the Enrollment Department did not issue an official poll book to the election director until Jan. 31,2002, three days before the election. The poll book is issued this late to make sure it is as accurate as possible - tribal members dying, tribal members registering to vote since the election started, name or address changes, etc. Since the election director did not have an official poll book before Jan. 31, however, he kept track of the mail-in ballots received by keeping a handwritten list of the ballots received each date. He then transferred that information (for 682 people) to the poll book on the day before Election Day. In keeping this handwritten list, the election director used several different numbering systems, skipped 10 numbers when he tried to change his numbering system, and listed two or three people twice on his list by accident. All of these minor “errors” were explained during the hearing and the final numbers matched. No person’s The Goodell Tribe would like to wish Mark Hammett a Happy Father’s Day! Love Christine, Chad, Ryan, Chaz, Dooz, and Konners Happy Father’s Day, Chad. We love and miss you; come home safely. Love, Aunt Sheila, Breanna, and Brittney To Aunt (Uncle) Lenny - Happy Father’s Day. We love you; you are the best auntie/uncle we have. Love, Sheila, Breanna, and Brittney Happy Father’s Day, Darrin. Thank you for giving me the most beautiful girls, even when they’re as rotten as you! Love, Sheila Happy Father’s Day, Papa. We love you. Thanks for putting up with us when we’re rotten and that’s pretty often. Love, Breanna and Brittney Happy Father’s Day to our daddy, Darrin Goodell. We love you with all our hearts. Hope you have a great day. Love you with all the stars, Breanna and Brittney vote was lost or ignored or not counted, and no one voted twice. b. Some tribal members voted twice. This allegation primarily refers to one family where five people have the same name, except for different middle initials and the use of junior or senior at the end of the name. The election director listed one of these family members as having voted by mail. That person came in to vote in person on Election Day, at which time the election director realized his mistake, checked the mail-in ballot received, and corrected his mistake. One member of the family voted by mail, a different member of the family voted in person. No one voted twice. Petitioners also pointed to two tribal members whose names were listed twice in the election director’s handwritten list. He had written those names down twice for a variety of reasons. A check of ballot signature envelopes, the registered voters log, and the fact that the number of ballots exactly matched the 682 different tribal members who voted by mail, showed that those persons did not vote twice. c. Ballots were sent to un registered voters, ballots were not sent to registered voters, wrong dates were entered, and persons were improperly allowed to vote. This is a miscellaneous category. When the election director transferred all of the information he had To my little cousin, Derek Simmons - Happy Father’s Day. I know that baby isn’t here yet, but it’s close enough. You’re going to be a great dad. Love, Sheila, Breanna, and Brittney To my dad, Micheal Jordon - Happy Father’s Day. I love you and thank you for always being there when I need you. Love, Sheila been keeping since Jan. 7 about mail- in ballots received over to the poll book when he received that book on Jan. 31 (he had only Thursday and Friday to transpose 682 names, and many more members who were sent ballots did not return them), he made “numerous” minor mistakes, such as entering the wrong date when the ballot was mailed out or received, or entering information on the wrong line and name. In these cases, the election director caught his errors and corrected them. Petitioners argued that these corrections “defaced” the poll book and made the entire Tribal Council election invalid. The Tribal Court rejected these claims. Petitioners also complained about attempts the election director made to help people to vote, or in trying to make sure that votes were counted whenever possible. For example, it happens every year that people return their mail-in ballots without signatures. Up to the last week of the election, the election director returns these ballots to the voters to write their signature and return the ballot. Most people do return the ballots; two did not. Petitioners argued that it was illegal for the election director to send these incomplete ballots back to the voters to complete them. The court ruled that it was proper. Another example is that a couple of tribal members submitted ballots where their signature did not quite match the card on file, or sent a Floaters by Eva E. Clayton Ever watch wave action ? A push pull combination. Waves, spreading out over the sand, white laced fingers massage the beach, retreating. Action, reaction again and again. Mesmerizing energy, endless. A wild spirit. A gently soothing mirror reflection. Constant wave movement brings change. A relentless heartbeat, like ancestral drums. The goals to bring about a better life, for many who count on the commitment of a pounding surf, need to get behind the wave. Add to the push pull effect. A de barked gnarled log floats to the shore. A bit of sand blasting, sun color, survives yet another journey. We are like the gnarled log, we get a bit weather worn, but we 're floaters. Not looking for applause? Look around you. If your spirit is right, your heart humble, be glad you are a part of a world that breathes life. blank piece of paper with their signature because they had lost the official form. In each case, the election director conferred with the Election Board and confirmed from other documents that the signature was accurate, and then exercised his authority as election director to count those ballots. Petitioners argued that it was illegal to count these votes. The Tribal Court ruled that this was valid. These election challenges highlighted some of the inconsistencies in the current Election Ordinance that make the job of running the election more difficult or allow people to challenge a Tribal Council election on technical grounds even when the election was fair and the vote count was accurate. I will review the Election Ordinance in. the next few months and make recommendations to the Tribal Council to strengthen and streamline that document. If you have any proposed changes, I encourage you to submit your comments to Tribal Council. A copy of the 11-page court decision can be obtained by sending a written request to Dianne McLeod, Tribal Court administrator, CTSI, P.O. Box 549, Siletz, OR 97380. June 2002 □ Siletz News □ 21
