By SCOTT MCKIE B.P.
One Feather Asst. Editor
CHEROKEE, N.C. – The Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians (EBCI) uses a weighted vote system.
The weighted vote system is outlined in Section 19 of the Charter and Governing Document of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians. “In order to provide equal representation to all members of the Eastern Band, the members of the Tribal Council shall, in their deliberations, cast votes on a weighted basis, with the weight of each vote determined by each Council member. A tribal census, for the purposes of determining the weight of the votes to be cast by each Tribal Council member, shall be conducted prior to the 1981 tribal election and prior to the election each ten years thereafter to determine the number of enrolled tribal members residing in each township.”
It continues, “After the regular 1981 tribal election and each ten years thereafter, the Tribal Council, at its first regular meeting, shall determine the total number of votes to be cast in the Tribal Council and shall allot a voting authority to each Council member. The voting weight allotted to each Council member shall be determined by computing the mathematical ratio, fraction, or proportion that exists between the number of enrolled tribal members residing in each township and the total number of enrolled tribal members. All Council members, including the Chairman, shall be entitled to vote on all issues.”
Prior to the Charter being approved in 1986, Res. No. 288 was passed on March 18, 1975 establishing the voting system for Tribal Council and the first weighted vote system for the EBCI.
That legislation states, “The Tribal Council is under mandate of the United States District Court of the Western District of North Carolina to revise its election procedure to provide equal representation for each enrolled member of the Tribal Council as guaranteed by the Indian Civil Rights Act.”
Res. No. 288 states, “After the 1975 regular tribal election, the total number of votes to be cast by the twelve Council members at Tribal Council shall be thirteen and one-half (13 ½) votes.”
Per that legislation, the breakdown of the vote per community at the time was as follows (shown total per community, total per Council representative:
- Wolftown (3 total, 1.5 per representative)
- Birdtown (3 total, 1.5 per representative)
- Snowbird/Cherokee County (1.5 total, .75 per representative)
- Big Cove (2 total, 1 per representative)
- Painttown (2 total, 1 per representative)
- Yellowhill (2 total, 1 per representative)
Several years later, Tribal Council passed Res. No. 430 on June 24, 1981 which sheds light on the origins of the weighted vote system for the EBCI. This legislation stated, “The 1979 tribal election was the first such election conducted and supervised by the Cherokee Tribal Board of Election; and the United States District Court, in the case of Mose Wachacha v. Eastern Band (W.D.N.C. 1974), ordered the Eastern Band to reapportion its Tribal Council to insure (sic) equal protection of the laws to tribal members; and as a result of the Wachacha suit, the Tribal Council adopted the weighted vote concept and directed that the Tribal Council would reapportion itself every ten (10) years beginning in 1981.”
Res. No. 77 was passed on Jan. 9, 1992 and changed the weighted vote following the “1991 reapportionment census” as it was called in the legislation. The weighted vote approved with that legislation is as follows:
- Birdtown (12 votes per representative)
- Wolftown (12 votes per representative)
- Yellowhill (7 votes per representative)
- Cherokee/Graham Counties (6.5 votes per representative)
- Big Cove (6.5 votes per representative)
- Painttown (6 votes per representative)
The last time the weighted vote for the EBCI was changed was with Res. No. 20 which was passed on Oct. 10, 2001 and changed it as follows:
- Birdtown (12 votes per representative)
- Wolfetown (12 votes per representative)
- Yellowhill (7 votes per representative)
- Big Cove (7 votes per representative)
- Painttown (6 votes per representative)
- Snowbird/Cherokee County (6 votes per representative)
Res. No. 20 came with a graph showing the Proportional Votes for Council Representatives per the 2001 Census as follows (total population, percentage of total EBCI population, each vote percentage, rounded)
- Birdtown (3,148; 24.97 percent; 12.49 percent; 12 percent)
- Wolfetown (2,986; 23.69 percent; 11.84 percent; 12 percent)
- Yellowhill (1,735; 13.76 percent; 6.88 percent; 7 percent)
- Big Cove (1,750; 13.88 percent; 6.94 percent; 7 percent)
- Painttown (1,593; 12.64 percent; 6.32 percent; 6 percent)
- Snowbird/Cherokee County (1,394; 11.06 percent; 5.53 percent; 6 percent)
A census was not held in 2011 nor 2021. An electronic census was held in 2023, but the results have not been brought forth in legislation to alter the weighted vote nor to confirm that it should stay the same.
