NATIVE TIMES PHOTO  Cherokee citizens stage a peaceful protest outside the Cherokee Nation Election Commission office during last week’s vote recount June 30.OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) – Cherokee Nation council members expressed hope last week that the controversy swirling around the disputed election for the principal chief’s office can be resolved amicably.



The election and its aftermath are drawing comparisons to the famed recount in the 2000 presidential election in Florida involving Republican George W. Bush and Democrat Al Gore.

Longtime tribal councilman and challenger Bill John Baker, who trailed three-term incumbent Chad Smith by seven votes in the latest count from Saturday’s June 25 election, filed a formal recount request June 29.

The Cherokee Nation is Oklahoma’s largest American Indian tribe and one of the nation’s biggest, with membership approaching 300,000 members.

“It’s one of the biggest political events in Cherokee history,” said tribal councilman Chuck Hoskin Jr. of Vinita, who supported Baker. “... When I talk to people, I tell them, I know you’re upset, but let’s be calm. Let’s work the system, work the problem.”

Councilwoman Cara Cowan Watts of Claremore, a Smith supporter, echoed those sentiments.

“Regardless of the election’s outcome, our Nation is composed of strong, intelligent and capable individuals,” she said. “I believe we will resolve the election amicably as we are a fully functioning democratic government.”

Unofficial final returns posted Sunday morning June 26 on the tribal website had Baker beating Smith by 11 votes. But Monday afternoon, the tribal election commission certified Smith as the winner by a seven-vote margin out of more than 15,000 cast.

The commission hasn’t commented on why the vote count changed, other than a statement issued June 27 that said, “Our early tabulation was unofficial; these are the official certified election results.”

June 28, Baker filed a petition for emergency injunctive relief with the Cherokee Nation Supreme Court, asking that the election commission be ordered to produce a copy of the Cherokee Nation Election Certificate of Vote with the certified results for each individual district and for absentee ballots.

Baker also asked for documents detailing the changes that occurred between the original vote totals reported to the commission June 26 and the certified vote totals reported June 27. Baker said in the petition that the commission won’t provide the information without an order from the court.

Commission officials didn’t immediately return a call seeking comment.

In a statement, Smith said there’s nothing unusual about the document request.

“We would like to see the same documents and hope the election commission makes them available to all parties,” Smith said.

Les Hannah, chairman of Northeastern State University’s Department of Languages and Literature, said he believes the disputed tribal election is like “Florida all over again.”

Hannah, who also oversees the Tahlequah school’s Cherokee language program, said he had lunch at a small café Tuesday and the talk at most of the tables centered on the election aftermath and the similarities of the Bush-Gore legal wrangling, which lasted more than five weeks. Bush eventually prevailed after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered a halt to a recount, giving him a 537-vote win, Florida’s 25 electoral votes and the presidency over Gore.

“That’s something that this generation remembers,” Hannah said. “These voters were watching this back then and it’s very prominent in their minds. Now, here we go again, only with the Cherokee Nation version.”

Hannah said the election showed a divide between Cherokees who live in the heart of the tribe’s 14-county jurisdiction in eastern Oklahoma and those closer to the population center of Tulsa or outside the jurisdiction. Baker won overwhelmingly in Cherokee, Adair and Delaware counties, while Smith appeared to carry the vote in suburban Tulsa and won a majority of so-called “at-large” voters.

“This is about as equally divided as the Nation has ever been on anything,” said Hannah, who is Cherokee.

Businessman Keith Austin of Verdigris, who voted for Baker, said that no matter who eventually prevails, he won’t have a clear mandate.

“It’s not going to be without this feeling that technicalities won it for you,” Austin said. “When it’s won by challenge ballots, it always feels like it was by the judgment of the people on the election commission as opposed to the actual vote tally.”

Regardless of the outcome, a tribal court or federal court seems likely. The chief is supposed to be inaugurated Aug. 14 and it’s unclear if that could happen if a court case is ongoing.

Cowan said she expects the election issues “will be resolved in the next two weeks as prescribed by Cherokee Nation law.”

Hoskin’s timeline wasn’t as firm: “I haven’t thought beyond tribal court because I want to have faith in our government, that we can take care of this matter ourselves. I will have to take another look at that when the tribal court process is done.”