TULSA, Okla. (AP) – The four candidates vying to become the next principal chief of one of the largest American Indian tribes are making a last-minute push for votes ahead of the election this weekend.

The next Cherokee Nation chief will lead 320,000 citizens and a workforce of 9,000, control a budget approaching $1 billion, oversee the tribe’s lucrative casino and hotel businesses and manage the country’s largest tribal health care system.

Returns from Saturday’s election will be tallied at the tribal capital of Tahlequah, about 75 miles east of Tulsa.

If one candidate secures more than 50 percent of votes cast, that person wins outright.

But with four candidates in the contest, a July runoff between the top two vote-getters is a strong possibility – especially between the incumbent, Principal Chief Bill John Baker, and former chief Chad Smith, who led the tribe for a dozen years before losing to Baker in 2011. That election was bitter and costly, with Baker and Smith squaring off twice that year – the second time because results from a first round of balloting flipped back and forth during a series of recounts.

The two other candidates hoping to take a chunk of the frontrunners’ support are state Rep. Will Fourkiller and the late Cherokee Chief Wilma Mankiller’s widower, Charlie Soap. Both say they represent a departure from the Cherokee politics of the past 15 years.

In a recent interview, Baker highlighted his record, including improved and new health clinics, hundreds more Cherokee families on the tribal payroll and Cherokees building homes for their own people.

“We’re running on our record, and we’re hoping folks don’t look at unsigned (campaign mailings) that distort that record,” Baker said in an interview. “We really believe the Cherokee people will just look around and see the progress that’s being made.”

Smith, who led the tribe before losing to Baker, said his rival is spending too much on campaign advertising instead of talking about the issues that matter, such as health care. He predicted he will have enough votes for a runoff.

“There’s nothing that moves in Cherokee County that doesn’t have his face on it,” Smith said of Baker. “He’s going to lose the election because of his opulence ... and Cherokee people see that.”

Fourkiller and Soap agree that a vote for either Baker or Smith means keeping the status quo.

“I think people are looking for a change; they want something different than the party politics,” Fourkiller said. “I think folks are getting tired of the fighting and arguing back and forth and I think folks are ready for something different.”

Soap said his campaign is geared toward Cherokees living in rural parts of the tribe’s 14-county jurisdiction in northeastern Oklahoma, not just citizens who live in larger cities such as Tulsa.

“They want more recognition; they feel forgotten about,” Soap said.