Filing deadline for Navajo Nation Council extended

FLAGSTAFF, Ariz. (AP) – Navajo officials have approved a reapportionment plan that outlines which communities lawmakers on a new 24-member Tribal Council will represent.
Navajos eyeing a seat on the council have until Monday to apply. The Friday deadline was extended so that potential candidates know which communities they would serve, said Johnny R. Thompson of the tribe's elections office.
Some Navajos filed without knowing who their constituents would be, while others waited for the approval of the reapportionment plan. The tribe's Board of Election Supervisors OK'd the plan Friday afternoon, which creates 24 districts each ideally representing about 7,140 people.
A December election that the tribe's Supreme Court recently ruled valid after a number of legal challenges reduced the council from 88 members to 24.
The court ordered Navajo President Joe Shirley Jr., who led the effort to cut the council, to bring forth a reapportionment plan and for the election board to approve it by June 18. The justices said the Tribal Council and election board had ample time to develop and approve a plan but failed to do so.
Shirley's plan had carved out a sixth agency in the southwestern part of the reservation, but the agency lines were lifted in the final plan. The Navajo communities of Ramah, To'hajiilee and Alamo in New Mexico, which aren't contiguous to the reservation, will share a lawmaker under the revised plan.
The plan also ensures that Navajo chapters, or precincts, aren't divided, and is consistent with U.S. Bureau of Indian Affairs grazing management maps.
“We were willing to compromise to achieve the goal set before us by the Navajo Nation Supreme Court, and ultimately, by the Navajo people we all serve,” Shirley said in a statement. “This is another step toward giving them the government they have said they want.”
Council Delegate Lawrence Platero of To'hajiilee, who is seeking a fifth term, filed his paperwork early in the race before the high court ruled on the validity of the election. Until Friday, he wasn't sure where he would need to campaign.
With the tribe's primary election scheduled for Aug. 3, election officials will be on a tight schedule to get absentee ballots printed and mailed out, Thompson said. Platero said that doesn't leave much time to campaign, either, particularly for political newcomers.
“You would have to hit their chapter meetings, have it announced there and give whatever you need to give there and hope for the best,” he said.