Mississippi Choctaw run-off
Reform challenger Beasley Denson out-polled seven-term incumbent Phillip Martin by 211 votes. The results will be certified Friday. Earlier coverage is here and here.
This leaves only Chad Smith, the incumbent executive of the Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma, as the last remaining of an original six Jack Abramoff client/contributor tribal executives who still control Indian Gaming operations and rubber stamp legislatures.
Compare the reported process and transparency of the Mississippi Choctaw absentee ballot (below) with the slight-of-hand announcement that Chad Smith got an overwhelming inland absentee vote, and the news that some inland (Vian) Cherokee Freedmen voters who did not request absentee ballots were sent ballots late, and were turned away at the polls when they attempted to vote.
More than 100 people packed into the Tribal Council Hall as committee members convened to count the absentee ballots and recount the results from Tuesday's poll voting.The process was slow, as ballots and affidavits were sorted, reviewed, checked for matching signatures and counted.
"We don't want any injustice. Beasley took it fair and square and that's what we're here to see," Denson supporter Nolan Mitch, 33, said as the crowd gathered.
The crowd applauded when Denson walked into the standing-room-only tribal hall.
Denson, 57, quit his job as a car salesman to take on what is likely the most intense political fight the reservation has ever seen.
Denson supporters wanted to ensure that all absentee ballots came with a request letter, indicating the voter had requested a ballot for Tuesday's runoff.
But when the counting began, a dispute broke out over whether committee chairwoman Nellie Steve should have sent absentee ballots to voters who requested them for the June 12 election but not for Tuesday's runoff.
It is worth noting that neither Congresswoman Diane Watson nor the National Congress of American Indians gave active support to Phillip Martin in the Mississippi Choctaw election last month, or this week's run-off.
