Saginaw Chippewa membership to vote on constitutional amendments

Scott Csernyik

11/5/2003 12:00:00 AM

Saginaw Chippewa voters will decide on 12 amendments to the Tribe's Constitution Sept. 30 in the first election regarding the document since it was ratified 17 years ago.

The election will be conducted in accordance with federal regulations and the Tribe's Constitution. Adult members of the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe of Michigan who are 18 years of age or older on Sept. 30 and who are registered to vote may participate in the election. Adult members are those persons who are duly enrolled in the Tribe and who meet the Tribe's written criteria for membership in its constitution. The Secretary of the Interior's Election Board is required to determine who is eligible to register under these criteria.

The two polling places include the Saginaw Chippewa Tribal Police Department and the Saganing Outreach Center in Standish. Polls will open will from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

The Sept. 30 election follows the mandate set forth in the March 25 decision issued by U.S. District Court Judge David M. Lawson of the Eastern District of Michigan's Northern Division. Lawson also ordered a specific timetable for both parties to follow.

The constitutional reform effort-initiated several years ago-has been tied up in the courts as both sides attempted to reach a compromise to the process. District 1 Tribal member and constitutional reform spokesperson Gloria King was named as the plaintiff in the matter. Gail Norton, secretary of the Interior and the U.S. Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs were named as defendants.

"Although this administration has not been a party to those legal proceedings, we have taken action from time to time in an effort to influence this process in ways that would make it potentially less harmful to the Tribe," stated Chief Maynard Kahgegab Jr. in an Aug. 19 letter to the membership.

King has maintained the proposed amendments will make the Tribal government more stable.

Registration packets from the BIA were to be mailed to adult Saginaw Chippewa members who meet the aforementioned criteria on Aug. 18 with a Sept. 2 deadline for its completion. A registered voter list is to be posted on Sept. 8, with absentee ballot packets mailed that same day. The last day to challenge names or the absence of names on the registered voter list is Sept. 19, with decisions on these possible appeals being made 10 days before the election and a corrected registered voter list being posted.

"Once the registration packets are issued, it is extremely important for all duly enrolled Tribal members to complete the registration packet and return it to the BIA within the deadline," according to the Aug. 19 letter. "This is so important because under our Constitution, no amendment can be passed through a secretarial election unless at least thirty percent (30%) of the registered voters in each of our election districts participate in the vote, and a majority of those voting in each district approve the proposed amendments.

"However, in counting the thirty percent (30%), the BIA will only consider the voters who submitted their registration packets... The proposed constitutional amendments cover a wide range of issues, and have been restructured by the BIA so the amendments involving different issues will be voted on separately. Copies of the proposed amendments are attached for your review. Those amendments are in somewhat different form than were reflected in the community survey we conducted last spring. These changes were largely beyond our control and were mostly the result of technical comments from the BIA made per the regulations that were not issued until June 2003."

A copy of the Tribe's Constitution can be found on pages 4 and 5. The 12 proposed amendments appear on pages 6 and 7.