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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. 