By ROBERT JUMPER
Tutiyi (Snowbird) and Clyde, N.C.
There is a tabled ordinance (proposed ordinance 52) scheduled for a vote of the Dinilawigi (Tribal Council) on Thursday, Sept. 5. This ordinance, according to the Election Board of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, would shorten the primary period by roughly six weeks. I disagree with this planned change. I think allowing the primary period to be shortened further distances the community from the process of electing tribal officials and discourages qualified but lesser-known candidates from attempting to seek office. Similarly, the Election Board is asking for the filing period to be reduced to five days.
Unfortunately, democratic or representative government elections have become nothing more than popularity contests. Other than rudimentary age. residential requirements, and criminal status requirements, there are no restrictions on who may run for tribal offices. That is good. But there are few laws in place to level the playing field for new candidates seeking to serve. That is bad. Incumbents hold most of the cards when it comes to elections in our tribe.
Term limits, staggered terms, and extended terms have been proposed several times over the years to help level the field, and even though most sitting representatives will say that they are for the community getting to make those choices, no Dinilawigi has allowed a referendum vote on any of those three issues.
Two term referendum questions were approved by Dinilawigi and the Ugvwiyuhi (Chief) in 2021, revised and approved again in 2022, and suddenly and without declared reason removed from the ballot in July 2023, just two months before the people were going to be given the right to choose. Had these changes passed the referendum vote, the way we elect officials would have radically changed, clearing the way for more of our community to step up and serve in the seats of government.
Currently, the primary period is one of the few opportunities for new candidates to make their cases. The write-in process, as Election Board Chairperson Cindy Chandler pointed out, is really not a write-in process at all. A voter cannot go into the booth on election day and write in just any name, only Election Board-vetted candidates may be entered on any tribal ballot. In most governmental elections, if you want to go in and cast your vote for Daffy Duck, you can write that name in, and it will be tallied. It is a right given to the people to choose, even if it is only a symbolic vote for a fictitious character. One federal election year, there was a drive initiated by a political activist group to have voters write in “none of the above” on their ballots.
The vote is a fundamental power of any democratic or representative government. Skewing the process in any way is detrimental to the community as a whole. It is unhealthy to gain and retain power through election laws that favor one candidate or another. The playing field should be as level as possible to allow the community to have the widest and best selection of candidates.
The Dinilawigi and Ugvwiyuhi are the highest offices that may be held in our tribe. They are the rock stars of our community, so to speak. Once in those seats, representatives are all in the public eye daily. They are inundated with calls for services. They spend time in front of cameras and their names, faces, and actions are broadcast repeatedly on Channel 28, by the World Wide Web, and in the Cherokee One Feather. They are seen cutting ribbons and holding golden shovels. And because they appropriate tribal funds, they are seen as the givers of goods and services for their constituency. With visibility like that, it is no wonder that we see very limited shifts in seats of government during elections. And when there is a change, with some exceptions, it is someone who has previously held the seat and is well known.
It is a disservice to our community to shorten the primary process. So far, the reasoning seems to be that it will make it easier on those who are processing the election. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t want to make anyone’s job more difficult just to be making it difficult. But when it is a choice between giving the voter every opportunity to see and decide on selecting the governance of our people and making the process quicker and less painful for the processor, the choice for the community should be a simple one.
The majority of the work session was spent discussing the methods of voting and changes to the registration process, which the Election Board plans to keep open perpetually. Dinilawigi stressed that changes to the way people vote should not be such as to put challenges in front of them, for example, learning new voting processes that might deter them from casting their ballots.
In my opinion, the proposed shortened election calendar weakens the election process instead of strengthening it. In previous years, we have had officials who advocated for doing away with the primary process altogether. With elections based on popular vote, the climb to a seat of office is going to be a tough one for any tribal member new to the political process. We need every opportunity to get to know our options better, even if it only that additional six weeks. We should be working toward making the process more inclusive and fairer, not less. Having the best choices is as important as voting.
