Smoke
Signals
A Publication of the
Grand Ronde Tribe
JULY 1, 2001
OR. COLL. Edjj
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July 1, I
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Margaret J. iw-
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n Mark mow
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q Richard Mcwiutm
q Bob Haller
Val Grout
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D Patty puwh
Fred McOoe
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mwev (Cuddy) West
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In this special section of Smoke Snas, tho 16 nominees for the
2001 Tribal Council have the opportunity to share their beliefs and issues
they caro about most. Read on to learn more about these candidates....
D Ballots will be mailed on July 23.
D CANDIDATE FORUM & POTLUCK (see detailed agenda on page 7).
Saturday, July 711 a.m. to 4 p.m. Community Center
D ELECTION DAY
Saturday, September 8
9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Community Center
B General Council meetings will resume on Sunday, September 9.
D Notice: 1,400 eligible voters are not registered to vote, due to not
having an official notarized signature on file. The Election Board will be
sending official voter registration forms to these members. It Is your
responsibility to fill out, have notarized and return before election day on
September 8 to the Enrollment office. Please note that ballot envelopes
will not be used for notarization this year.
Chair Ellen Fischer
Vice Chair Joann Mercier
Secretary Theresa Haller
Members Claudia Leno
Nancy Coleman
Cherie Butler
Kimberly Campbell
Alternates Ruby Bigoni
Peachie Hamm
Bernice Jensen
Charlene Hoover
MtofflD aaifi)DD EDftln); Maris oti Up
Annual opportunity for Tribal members to exercise their right to vote, r1
By Justin Phillips
Soon it will be that time of the year again.
It is down to three marks on your ballot.
But before you starting getting pencil
happy, you better check to see if your vote
even counts.
There are new things happening with the
Election Board this year.
In May of 2001, there were four Election
Board seats that were determined vacant.
After reviewing the Election Board applica
tions submitted by the membership, Tribal Council
chose to renew three of the four current board mem
ber appointments. Ellen Fisher, Nancy Coleman and
Cherie Butler have a new two-year term. Fisher also
was unanimously re-elected as the Chairperson.
Claudia Leno, who was serving as an alternate in the
year 2000 election, filled the fourth Election Board
seat. Other members include, Joann Mercier, Vice
Chairman and Theresa Haller, Secretary. Also, Kim
berly Campbell is disqualifying herself for the period
of the year 2001 election because of a potential per
sonal conflict.
In the past, the Election Board offices were dis
mantled at the end of the annual Tribal Council elec
tion and all the documents were stored until the next
year's election. The board has two permanent and
one semi-permanent office located in the Community
Center. One office has a window so Tribal members
can access the Election Ordinance. Jhe Election Board
does not have a clerk at this time but board members
retrieve messages left on the phone system and re
turn calls and send information to all with requests.
Tribal Council has authorized an upgrade to the voter
registration system. The purpose of the upgrade is to
have a computer in the office that will store the voter
registration forms (enrollment will still keep the originals)
and capture the signatures so the Election Board mem-
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bers can more efficiently view signatures for verification.
Ink Impressions, a New Mexico-based company spe
cializing in election-related materials, will conduct and
federally certify the Tribal Council elections.
"We provide election management services to city,
state, county and Tribal governments all over the coun
try," said Ink Impressions President Terry Rainey.1 University of Oregon Library
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I nis election un urana Konue; is oasicany vine uy
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mail. So here, we are assisting them (the Election
Board) on getting their voter data file ready to do the;
ballot mailing. This will give them the ability to track:
every piece of mail in and out and be able to provide!
an audit trail of all the ballots."
Ink Impressions will also be here on Election Day,
September 8, with tabulation equipment to do the opti
cal scan and counting of the ballots. Ink Impressions
also prints, assembles the mailing packages and
handles the mailing for the Election Board.
"They (Election Board members) never touch any of
that stuff," said Rainey.
Ink Impressions designs and develops several ma
chines that count ballots quickly and precisely. The
lasers read the carbon substance on the ballots - that
is why a number two pencil must be used. The ma
chine the Election Board uses acknowledges ballots at
a time of 600 per minute. This will enable a quick
return on the election results.
Smoke signals
This year the Election Board is scanning all signa
tures of registered voters and it will be on file for easy
access to verify signatures.
"We usually would have to look them up by hand,"
said Kimberly Campbell. "It's going to be so much
easier with a computer."
"I think the main reason we have been contracted
to do this kind of work is because we are an impartial
group responsible for the tabulation of the ballots,"
said Rainey. "The Election Board has done a lot to
make this whole signature verification and registra
tion process tighter so that there is consistency in
every transaction." D