PAWHUSKA, Okla. – After an overnight wait for voter signatures to be manually verified, the Osage Nation election commission released unofficial results Tuesday.

Departing Osage Congressman and local attorney Geoffrey Standing Bear received 71.24 percent of the more than 2,200 votes cast, propelling him to victory in the principal chief’s race over Margo Gray.

Standing Bear’s four-digit margin of victory was partially due to mail-in votes, as the outgoing Congressman received 825 absentee votes. That figure alone topped Gray’s overall vote count of 652.

“During the campaign, I got to go out and really see just how much we all have in common,” Chief-elect Standing Bear said Tuesday afternoon. “It really is a joy to see how we are one big family descended from one group of allottees.

“Families have disagreements from time to time and we’ll have to work together. If we’ll all listen to each other – just like any family – we will be able to move forward.”

With 55.79 percent of the votes cast, outgoing Congressional speaker Raymond Red Corn defeated Skiatook attorney Amanda Proctor for the office of assistant principal chief.

When the Fourth Osage Nation Congress convenes later this year, it will do so with four new faces. Ron Shaw, James Norris, Otto Hamilton and Angela Pratt finished among the top six candidates in the 21-person field.

Incumbent Alice Buffalohead was the top individual vote-getter, receiving 54 percent of the votes cast. Skiatook native William “Kugee” Supernaw was also elected to another term, finishing third overall with XX percent of the votes cast.

Due to computer problems, the signatures on the general election ballots had to be manually verified rather than scanned in, thus delaying the release of results until about 4:45 a.m. Tuesday. Despite the long day and muggy conditions caused by showers earlier in the evening, about 40 people, including Standing Bear, Buffalohead, Supernaw and congressional candidates Daniel Boone, Clair Wood, Angela Pratt and H. Troy Big Eagle, stayed all night, waiting on the final tally. Some napped in cars and lawn chairs while others made small talk in front of the Congressional Chambers or played on smart phones to kill time.

The third party vendor used for this year’s election, True Ballot, is the same company that conducted the Osage Nation’s 2010 and 2012 elections. Other area tribes that have recently used the company include the Cherokee Nation, the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians and one of the two claimant governments of the Cheyenne and Arapaho Tribes.

“No one should believe for a minute that our election board desired that kind of outcome,” Red Corn said. “We have good people serving on that board. I am sure they’ll get to the bottom of that problem and make it right.”

Osage voters also opted to retain two judges – Supreme Court Chief Justice Meredith Drent and Chief Trial Court Judge Marvin Stepson. The voters also approved three constitutional amendments, marking the first time that any ballot question has received the necessary supermajority since the tribe adopted its current constitution in 2006.

Results from the Osage Minerals Council election were available long before the final tallies from the general election, with the eight winners announced within two hours of the lone poll site closing. In its last election, ballot counting for the Osage Minerals Council election went into the wee hours of the morning.

Current chairman Andrew Yates finished first among the 17 candidates, earning 262.93 votes.

Others elected Monday to the third Osage Minerals Council include Cynthia Boone, Talee Redcorn, Joseph Cheshewalla, Galen Crum, Kathryn Red Corn, Everett Waller and Stephanie Erwin.

Voting for the eight Osage Minerals Council seats is restricted to tribal citizens older than the age of 18 whose names appear on the quarterly annuity roll at the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Pawhuska Agency as of the last payment. Although every eligible shareholder may cast a vote, each ballot does not necessarily carry the same weight. Each ballot carried the same value as the voter’s headright interest as shown on the last quarterly annuity roll, hence some vote counts ending with a fraction.

Inauguration is scheduled for July 2 at the Wah-Zha-Zhi Cultural Center.

            
Unofficial ballot results

Principal Chief

Geoffrey Standing Bear: 1615

            Margo Gray: 652

Assistant Principal Chief

            Raymond Red Corn: 1209

            Amanda Proctor: 958

Congress

            (i) Alice Buffalohead: 1125

            Ronald Shaw, M.D.: 1052

            (i) William “Kugee” Supernaw: 879

            James Norris: 779

            Otto Hamilton: 718

            Angela Marie Pratt: 714

            Cecilia Lemon Tallchief: 698

            John Star Bighorse: 675

            Clair Wood: 656

            (i) Daniel Boone: 650

            Justin Mays: 544

            Anthony Whitehorn: 499

            Michael Kidder: 495

            (i) John Free: 486

            W. Jacque Jones: 451

            H. Troy Big Eagle II: 447

            Beverly Brownfield: 392

            Teresa Bates Rutherford: 359

            Joe Conner: 359

            Rick Luttrell: 346

            Doug Cowan: 175

Ballot questions (supermajority required)

            ONCR 13-19:  Pass with 72.28 percent

            ONCR 13-20: Pass with 73.81 percent

            ONCR 13-22: Pass with 69.72 percent

            ONCR 14-03: Fail with 52.13 percent

            ONCR 14-04: Fail with 54.41 percent

            ONCR 14-05: Fail with 54.71 percent

Judicial retention

            Supreme Court Chief Justice Meredith Drent: Retained with 80.80 percent

            Chief Trial Court Judge Marvin Stepson: Retained with 78.98 percent

Osage Minerals Council

            (i) Andrew Yates: 262.93

            (i) Cynthia Boone: 236.27

            Talee Redcorn: 231.79

            Joseph “Blackbird” Cheshewalla: 230.64

            (i) Galen Crum: 219.39

            Kathryn RedCorn: 209.69

            Everett Waller: 206.39

            Stephanie Erwin: 203.27

            Linda Heskett: 198.07

            Robert E. “R.E.” Yarbrough: 190.9

            (i) Curtis Bear: 178.55

            Ray McClain: 178.43

            (i) Myron Red Eagle: 177.29

            (i) Melvin Core: 146.83

            Kenneth Bighorse, Jr.: 144.89

            Cheryl Potts: 142.82

            William St. John: 115.55

 

Incumbents are denoted with (i)