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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 1, 2022)
sNok signflz NOVEMBER 1, 2022 7 Voter list remains unchanged in Nov. 2 constitutional election By Dean Rhodes Smoke Signals editor If you’re one of the 19 Grand Ronde Tribal members who chal- lenged the voter list for the Nov. 2 constitutional election, you were unsuccessful. Bureau of Indian Affairs Public Affairs Specialist Robyn Broyles said the voting list remained at the original number of Tribal members who were listed on Oct. 4. “The number of registered voters for the Grand Ronde Tribe has not changed,” she said in an e-mail on Thursday, Oct. 20. About 20 percent of adult Tribal members registered to vote in the Nov. 2 constitutional amendment election that will determine wheth- er to limit future disenrollment proceedings to only cases of fraud and dual enrollment. According to the voter registra- tion list released by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, 858 Tribal members registered during what Senior Staff Attorney Holly Partridge said was the shortest registration process timeline the Tribe has ever had for a BIA-run election. During the recent September Tribal Council election, there were approximately 4,400 adult Tribal members. The number of registered voters is the smallest number for any constitutional election held by the Tribe. In all of the other seven con- stitutional elections, more than a 1,000 Tribal members registered, ranging from 1,091 in March 2015 to more than 1,500 in July 2016. A “unified” Tribal Council ap- proved sending the proposal out to voters during its Aug. 10 meeting and held its first educational meet- ing regarding the proposal via Face- book Live on Sept. 21. Eight of the nine Tribal Council members appear on the voting list, which is available to review at the Tribal government’s Photo by Kamiah Koch The list of Bureau of Indian Affairs registered voters for the Nov. 2 constitutional election hangs on the entrance doors of the Governance Center in Grand Ronde. Nineteen Tribal members challenged the list, but each one was unsuccessful in getting their name added. website at www.grandronde.org. Tribal members had until Oct. 7 to challenge the list. The Nov. 2 election will be the eighth time since 1999 that Tribal voters will be asked to amend the Constitution. Only two proposals out of those previous seven votes that included 11 suggested amend- ments received the required two- thirds majority to alter the Tribe’s Constitution. The proposed constitutional amendment would amend Article V, Section 5 to limit involuntary loss of membership to fraud and dual enrollment, and remove the current language regarding loss of membership for failure to meet enrollment criteria. The proposal comes in reaction to the divisive disenrollment proceed- ings that occurred in 2015 during which Tribal members were pro- visionally disenrolled. Eventually, the Tribal Court of Appeals ruled The Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde is partnering with DevNW to offer a Financial Foundations workshop. Financial Foundations explores the following topics: Budget & Cash Flow Planning Money Goal Setting Tackling Debt Channeling Savings for big goals Financial Planning for retirement Protecting Your Assets Strengthening Credit Scan QR code to register online or visit https://www.devnw.org/go/ctgr/ In person @ CTGR Community Center – Four 2hr sessions Wednesday’s 5:30-7:30pm (Nov. 9 th , 16 th , 30 th & Dec. 7 th ) Zoom – One 8hr session - Saturday, November 12 th that the Tribal members who were identified for disenrollment be- cause they allegedly did not meet enrollment criteria were to remain in the Tribe because the govern- ment had waited too long to start proceedings against them. Unlike regular Tribal Council elec- tions, a constitutional amendment election is supervised by the Bureau of Indian Affairs, which required Tribal members to register separate- ly to vote. At least 30 percent of those who registered to vote must cast a ballot – 258 of the 858 registered vot- ers – for the results to count and 66.7 percent of those voting must approve the amendment before it can change the Constitution. In March 2015, Tribal voters were asked to remove the Bureau of Indian Affairs from supervis- ing Grand Ronde constitutional amendment elections, but the pro- posal was overwhelmingly rejected with 62.4 percent wanting to retain federal oversight. Ballots must be returned by Wednesday, Nov. 2. There is no in-person voting for a BIA consti- tutional election. There were four hybrid in-person/ Zoom educational meetings regard- ing the proposal with one held in Portland, one in Salem and two in Grand Ronde. For more information, visit the Tribal government’s website at www.grandronde.org or contact Tribal Council Chief of Staff Stacia Hernandez at stacia.martin@gran- dronde.org. Drop box installed The Grand Ronde Tribal Police Department, 9655 Grand Ronde Road, has a medication drop box located in the front lobby. Lobby hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. The drop box is for any prescribed or over-the-counter medication. If the containers are too large to fit in the drop box, please repackage them in a zip-lock plastic bag. Tribal Police employees cannot handle the medications so the person dropping them off must repackage them. Needles and liquids are not allowed in the drop box. Tribal Police suggest mixing liquid medications with cat litter or coffee grounds and then throwing them away with the household trash. For more information, call 503-879-1821.