The 2022 Osage Nation General Election results are deemed certified after no requests for recounts or challenges were filed with the Wahzhazhe Elections Board.
Wazhazhe Elections Supervisor Alexis Rencountre said no recounts or challenges to the June 6 General Election unofficial results were filed with her office by the June 13 deadline. Afterward, Election Board members Terry Hazen, Chair Shannon Lockett and acting member Anita Fields voted to certify the results on June 14.
Rencountre and Assistant Election Supervisor Courtney Piearcy said they felt the Election Day voting process went well. “There was a line to enter for a while – but that’s a good problem to have – as well as lines at the machine to read ballots,” Rencountre said.
“And this was the second highest turnout overall,” Piearcy said of Osage voters casting ballots in the reformed government’s history.
This year, a total of 2,475 Osages voted in the General Election, which includes absentee, early voting and Election Day voting. That number represents 14.11% of registered Osage voters as of June 6, which was 17,535, according to the printed results.
In the 2020 General Election, 14.94 % of registered voters cast ballots, which was 2,449 out of 16,393 registered voters at that time.
This year, the General Election did not have ballot questions, but in addition to the executive and legislative branch offices, voters were asked whether to retain the four Judicial Branch judges who each sought another four-year term.
William Oldfield received 78.9 percent of the “yes” vote to serve a second term as Chief Judge of the Nation’s Trial Court.
Supreme Court Associate Justices Elizabeth Lohah Homer and Drew Pierce will also serve their next terms on the High Court. Homer received 82.3% of the “yes” votes and Pierce received 79.4% of the “yes” vote. Supreme Court Chief Justice Meredith (Quinata) Drent received 81% of the “yes” vote to serve another term.
In the Principal Chief’s race, incumbent Geoffrey Standing Bear won with 1,275 votes (51.7%), which is 86 votes over challenger and current Congressman Joe Tillman’s 1,189 votes (48.2%). For the Assistant Principal Chief’s office, RJ Walker won with 70.7% votes (1,659) over Thomas Trumbly (29.2% or 687 votes) and will vacate his Congress seat to serve his first Executive Branch term.
Elected to the Eighth ON Congress are incumbents Scott BigHorse, Alice Goodfox, Eli Potts, and Brandy Lemon. Otto Hamilton, who previously served from 2014 to 2018 on Congress, will serve a second term and Whitney Red Corn will serve her initial four-year Congressional term. Incumbent Paula Stabler, who placed seventh out of 13 Congressional candidates, will serve the two years remaining on Walker’s term.
For the 2022 General Election, Rencountre said 1,390 absentee ballots were received by Election Day and counted. For in-person voting, she said 1,085 Osages voted including 171 during the two early voting days (75 on June 3 and 96 on June 4).
The next constitutionally-mandated General Election will take place in June 2024 with the other six Congress seats opening for four-year terms. 2022 Osage Inauguration Day is set for Saturday, July 9 at the Tulsa Osage Casino Hotel for those elected to take their oaths of office. Afterward, the Eighth ON Congress will meet for its first special session to elect its officers and to form its select and standing committees.
