Tribal District One Election yields six first-term Council members
12/5/2015 4:00:00 PM - Tribal Observer

Tribal District One Election yields six first-term Council members

By Joseph V. Sowmick, Photojournalist

According to the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Constitution, every two years there is a general election to fill 12 Tribal Council seats; 10 from Isabella District One, one from Saganing District Two and one from the At-Large District. 

In an unprecedented vote that made Tribal electoral history on Nov. 3, District One voters ushered in six first-term council-elect members.

Newcomer Kenny Sprague received the highest number of votes with newcomers Candace Benzinger, Ronnie Ekdahl, Amanda George-Oldman, Gayle Ruhl and Michelle Colwell also elected.  

Other elected District One candidates include incumbents Lindy Hunt and Tim J. Davis, and former Council members Brent Jackson and Diana Quigno-Grundahl. 

There were 501 Tribal Members who came to the in the District One polls out of a possible 1,031 registered voters (48.5 percent). 

There were 25 Saganing District Two voters out of a possible 43 who came to cast their votes (58.1 percent).  The turnout was a first where Saganing voters garnered a higher percentage of the electorate.  Tribal Council incumbent Ron Nelson won the seat running unopposed.

The At-Large District Three election provided much excitement as the contest found incumbent Michele Stanley and Frank Cloutier deadlocked at 213. There were 426 At-Large District Three voters out of a possible 1,395 for a percentile of 30.5.  

A Nov. 17 At-Large runoff election saw Cloutier win by a 15-vote margin: 309 to Stanley’s 294 votes.  There were 603 District Three ballots cast out of the 1,401 registered voters for a 13-point increase (43 percent).

Caucus Committee Chair Alice Jo Ricketts personally thanked the voters during the Nov. 3 proceedings but wondered if the unseasonably warm temperatures in the ‘70s affected the turnout at the polls.

“It was Indian summer on the Reservation and we normally see a better turnout with cold or rainy weather,” Ricketts said.  “I really did like to see all of the first time voters come out.  It’s nice to see our youth who just turned 18 wearing their ‘I voted’ tribal election sticker proudly.”

Election Director Mario Ruiz from Automated Election Services of Rio Rancho, N.M. provided the necessary electronic equipment for counting all district ballots.

“Automated Election Services has been managing Tribal elections all over the country for more than 30 years,” Ruiz said. “We are honored to work closely with the Saginaw Chippewa Caucus Committee for the past few years and currently through the 2015 Primary and General Elections.”

The 12 elected members to Tribal Council are slated to be sworn in at the Tribal Operations Seniors Room on Tuesday, Dec. 1.