Tribal voters winnow field for General Council slots
General election ballots are in the mail; meeting rescheduled for June 18-20
Primary voting for the Nez Perce Tribe General Council was completed by mail this week, and the general election ballots will be sent out next week, Chairwoman Julia Davis-Wheeler announced Friday.
The mail-in election became necessary because of the COVID-19 pandemic, which postponed the tribe’s General Council spring meeting in May. Election judges and others mailed out 3,500 ballots to all enrolled tribal members, and got back 892, Davis-Wheeler said.
The general election ballots will be sent out Monday and will be marked with the date when they must be returned, Davis-Wheeler said. She mentioned the importance of tribal members keeping their address up to date with the tribe, since many ballots bounced back unopened.
The candidates appearing on Ballot 1 will be Samuel Penney (254 primary votes) and Rachel Edwards (251). Bowing out in the primary were Keith Kipp (116), Allen Slickpoo Jr. (113), Bridgette Greene (93) and James “J.R.” Spencer (36).
Two candidates apiece on the other two ballots automatically advanced to the general election. Appearing on Ballot 2 will be McCoy Oatman and Quinton Ellenwood, and on Ballot 3 will be Casey Mitchell and Louis Harris.
“As chair of the General Council, I’m proud to say that everything has gone extremely well for the votes for the primary, and everything that we’ve had to do was spur of the moment,” said Davis-Wheeler, who praised election judges Melissa King, Melissa Guzman and Alice Spalding.
The tribe’s General Council meeting is now scheduled for June 18-20 at the Pi-Nee-Waus in Lapwai. Idaho is scheduled to be on Stage 4 of its reopening plan by then, which would allow for larger gatherings.
