Ute election in limbo

Ute election in limbo

October 18, 2001

By Jim Mimiaga
Journal Staff Writer

The post-election drama on the Ute Mountain Ute reservation is threatening to approach that of the nation’s 2000 presidential race.

A recount in Towaoc to determine the tribal chairmanship is still on hold, following tallies that showed candidate Judy Knight-Frank had won by one vote over incumbent Ernest House in an election Oct. 12.

A tribal election ordinance requires a recount to take place within five business days of the election, or by Friday.

Flaydina Knight, a tribal election official, said Tuesday that the recount is expected to take place today or soon after. Knight said that under tribal election rules, a candidate can petition for a recount, which House did.

"We will be working on the tally hopefully on Thursday morning," Knight said. "As of now, Knight-Frank is the winner by one."

Indian reservations are sovereign nations with their own constitutions so they are not necessarily subject to the same open-meetings and records laws that non-Indian governments must comply with.

That information void has led to a certain amount of anxiety among some tribal members seeking assurances that a recount will be conducted fairly. Numerous anonymous callers to the Cortez Journal expressed concern about the election process.

"There is not a lot of trust there," said one caller who would not give her name. "I’ve heard that people voted twice and that a 17-year-old may have voted in White Mesa."

But Knight dismissed those claims as untrue.

"There is no evidence of that," she said, adding that "the ballot boxes are in a secure place. The room was locked up right after the first tally."

The Cortez Journal received, and previously reported, erroneous information that the Bureau of Indian Affairs would oversee the election. But that is not the case, according to BIA Acting Superintendent Priscilla Bancroft.

"Under the Utes’ sovereign-nation status, the bureau does not get directly involved in the recount. The election committee has complete authority over their own elections," Bancroft said.

Bancroft said that upon request, the BIA will send a person to watch the recount, but that has not happened. The confusion probably stemmed from the fact that the BIA did at one time have that oversight role, she said.

The one-vote margin for chairman was the closest in tribal history. But there have been several election challenges in the past between the two candidates, Knight said.

Knight-Frank and House have alternately led the tribe over the last two decades.