Three votes: Cecelia Fire Thunder, John Yellow Bird Steel and Alex White Plume
The election held Tuesday on the Ridge resulted in a three-way tie. The Pine Ridge Indian Reservation election officials said the results are too close to call, which has Cecelia Fire Thunder three votes behind the second place finnisher, and they've called in the U.S. Census Bureau to look over some 300 contested votes. A result is expected later today. The constitution and by-laws of the Oglala Sioux Tribe call for run-off's between the top two vote getters absent an absolute majority, so the three votes in 300 are ... a subject of interest.
After Cecelia Fire Thunder was removed from office, Alex White Plume became the acting President of the OST, and John Yellow Bird Steel been elected President twice in the past.
Trivial Pursuits: William Fire Thunder was Chairman of the PRIR Election Board that supervised the vote on the PRIR constitution and by-laws of the Oglala Sioux Tribe of the Pine Ridge Reservation, which Harold L. Ickes, then Secretary of the Interior of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority granted him by the act of June 18, 1934 (48 Stat. 984), as amended, approved in 1936.
More Trivial Pursuits:
ARTICLE III OATHS OF OFFICE
Section I Each member of the tribal council and each officer elected or appointed hereunder, shall take an oath of office prior to assuming the duties thereof, by which oath he shall pledge himself to support and defend the Constitution of the United States and this constitution and by-laws.
(Oath) I, ________________, do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies; carry out faithfully and impartially the duties of my office to the best of my ability; promote and protect the best interests of my tribe, the Oglala Sioux, in accordance with this constitution and by-laws.
The text support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies is an interesting artifact.