CHOCTAW, Miss. (AP) – Leaders of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians are faced with setting a new election date after the Tribal Council rejected the results of a June 30 runoff.

That vote put incumbent Chief Phyliss J. Anderson against former chief Beasley Denson.

Anderson, who won the runoff, called Friday's decision by the council disappointing.

Misty Dreifuss, director of the Tribal Office of Public Information said a motion Friday to affirm the election results failed in a 9-8 vote. At issue were absentee ballots cast in the election but Dreifuss told The Meridian Star she could not elaborate.

Anderson won the June 30 runoff and the Tribal Election Commission later dismissed 11 grievances filed over the runoff, allowing Anderson to retake the office.

In an earlier June 9 general election, Anderson received 1,514 votes. Denson garnered 1,050 votes. Kevin J. Edwards had 731 votes, followed by Bill G. Chickaway with 128 votes. Stella York Willis garnered 114 votes. Robert Garcia, Jr. had 50, and Austin Tubby earned 49 votes.

In the June 30 runoff, Anderson had 1,907 votes to Densons' 1,745 votes.

In a 2011 election, Anderson defeated Denson, who was chief at the time. Runoff results in that election were overturned twice.

Tribal leaders not must set a date for the new runoff and determine how it will be structured.

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Information from: The Meridian Star, http://www.meridianstar.com