CN Rules panel declines setting final dates for taking ballots

Mar. 14—The Cherokee Nation Rules Committee, during a Monday, March 14 meeting, voted against setting a final date for accepting absentee ballots by personal delivery to the Election Commission.

The legislative act was part of the Comprehensive Election form passed in October 2020.

"It got a little confusing, and when I came on here, this was something we took a few months to unpack. We met with the Election Commission more than once. It was determined that subsequent legislation passed around the same time, changed this back to what it had been before the 2020 act changed it," said Tribal Council Attorney John Young.

Young said the intent was not to change the second legislative act, and it was more of a "belt and suspenders" measure.

At-large Councilor Julia Coates said it reinserts back into the law an element that was part of the overall package of reform, and not a separate standalone act. She said a previous council had approved the Election Code Act.

District 15 Councilor Danny Callison said there are about 27,000 voters in each district.

"In my district, about 2,700 of them are registered and only 809 voted in the election. That's about a little under 30 percent — 29.6 [percent]. If we have to revote it, being a new councilor, the problem I have is limiting people's ability to vote [by] telling them, 'If you're going to vote, you better get it turned in before this date,'" said Callison.

He said it was one thing to bring in 200 voters at 7 p.m. on a Saturday, as opposed to a situation wherein voters don't have ballots in for various reasons.

"We need to encourage people to be voting on the Cherokee Nation. We need bigger outcomes and bigger things. I'm a new voice here and and I'm a pup, so you guys have been through the battle a lot longer than I have," he said.

Wes Nofire, District 3 councilor, said changes as such should be enforced and officials held accountable when a body such as the Election Commission tries to "undo" their work.

"I think that's why we have such a low voter turnout is because the voters don't have confidence whenever something like this happens. We were midway in the election cycle when they were changing the rules of when you could vote," said Nofire.

District 2 Councilor Candessa Tehee said she agreed with some points that were made, but disagreed with others.

"I would absolutely contradict some statements that were made recently made about the Election Commission and the integrity of the Election Commission. That are some individuals who do some very difficult work, and I find their work to be above approach," she said.

Tehee said she stood behind Callison's remarks in regard to have voting accessible to everyone.

"I feel this is a restriction on voter access and in actuality, by removing the ability of individual citizens to make personal delivery to the Election Commission, then you're actually taking away the only avenue for personal delivery that has any record-keeping associated with it," said Tehee.

She added that it hasn't created more oversight, as it's actually decreased oversight while restricting voter access.

Absentee ballots are mailed to voters at least five weeks before elections.

During her report to the committee, Attorney General Sara Hill said the tribe has now filed more than 3,700 criminal cases within its justice system since March 11, 2021. The number of referrals for juvenile offenses has reached 605.

"In addition to that, not included in those numbers are the 2,314 tickets that were filed with the district court so another 2,300 tickets. We now have 90 cross-deputy agreements, we have 18 municipalities that have entered into our municipal agreements so they can retain the revenue from those fines," said Hill.

Hill's office has expanded from 19 employees to 52.

There was a jury term in February wherein the courts saw 47 cases at pretrial. Hill said several of those cases were continued, while seven were set for trial and one case was tried and resulted in three guilty verdicts: assault and battery with a deadly weapon, assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, and animal cruelty. There will be another jury term in April.

Hill said the Supreme Court declined to hear issues related to overturn the Castro v. Huerta case, which is similar to the landmark McGirt v. State of Oklahoma ruling. They did agree to hear whether the state had concurrent jurisdiction with the U.S. over crimes committed by non-Natives in Indian Country.

The Castro-Huerta case involves a man who was convicted in state court for child neglect. The Oklahoma Court of Criminal Appeals threw out the conviction because of jurisdictional issues related to McGirt. The case will be heard by the court in April.

Congress passed a reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act and Hill and called it "welcome news" for everyone in Indian Country.

The committee approved resolutions confirming the reappointment of Maria Elizabeth Ballew as the fifth member of the Cherokee Nation Election Commission.

What's next

The next Cherokee Nation Rules Committee meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, March 31 at 1 p.m. It can be viewed on the Cherokee Nation YouTube page.