Three of the most-watched tribal races around the country were in Arizona, North Dakota and South Dakota.
President Joe Shirley Jr. of the Navajo Nation won his re-election against Lynda Lovejoy, the first woman to ever make it into the Navajo's general election. Shirley - who leads the country's largest land-based tribe - won with 34,813 votes, compared to Lovejoy's 30,214 votes.
And in South Dakota, John Yellow Bird-Steele coasted past former Oglala Sioux Tribe President Cecila Fire Thunder, the first woman elected by the Oglala. Yellow Bird-Steele received 2,341 votes, compared to Fire Thunder's 1,398 votes.
She gained national attention this year after proposing that an abortion clinic be built on the Pine Ridge Reservation. She announced her decision after the South Dakota Legislature passed a controversial law that criminalizes all abortions in the state.
South Dakota voters rejected the measure at the polls Tuesday.
Meanwhile, in Arizona, the Navajo presidential candidates moved toward quick resolution on Wednesday. A Navajo Nation press release provides the following account:
Lovejoy joined Shirley on stage in Window Rock, Ariz., shortly after he made his victory speech.
“When a candidate concedes, just as I am making my concession, people come back together,” Lovejoy said. “Words that are not kind were said in the newspaper, but tomorrow will be a beautiful day.”
Shirley's election marks the first time a Navajo president has been re-elected. “I'm just so elated, I'm just so happy,” he said. “I don't know what to do with myself.”
On the Fort Berthold Reservation, the transition between outgoing chairman Hall and the newly elected Wells was abrupt.
Hall immediately began moving items from his office Tuesday night after the election in which Wells received 1,356 of all ballots cast, compared to 1,123 votes for Hall.
“It's a time to look forward and not back,” Wells told supporters after he was sworn in to office Tuesday night, after an election board certified the results. “It's a time for healing and forgiveness. It's time for us to move on. We shall do this in a united way as members of the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara tribe.”
All newly elected MHA council members will celebrate in a family-and-friend inaugural event at 1 p.m. Friday in the Four Bears Casino event center in New Town, N.D.
For now, acting OST President Alex White Plume will continue to oversee the Oglala's presidential duties. He took over Fire Thunder's position after the tribe impeached her in June for using her presidential position to advance abortion. She claimed she had a right to do so as a private citizen.
The Oglala election results won't be official until Nov. 28, said David Mills, OST election board manager. The final stamp of approval is being held up as the tribe determines whether OST law enforcement officials overstepped their boundaries during Tuesday's tribal elections.
Mills said police officers presented an invalid court order from OST's election appeals board, which allowed them to take possession of ballot boxes in certain voter precincts on the reservation.
“The court of election board will have to determine if they violated the process of people to vote,” said Mills.
Reporter Jodi Rave can be reached at 800-366-7186 or at jodi.rave@lee.net
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