For the 2022 Osage Nation Primary Election scheduled April 4, the Wahzhazhe Elections Office received more than 2,700 requests for absentee ballots.
Election Supervisor Alexis Rencountre said 2,788 absentee ballots were mailed to Osage voters starting on Feb. 18. That day was also the deadline for voters to request absentee ballots to vote in the Nation’s second primary election under the reformed government with the first one held March 10, 2014.
Those who requested absentee ballots must mark their ballots and mail them as soon as possible in the postage-paid envelopes to the provided Pawhuska Post Office address. Those mailed absentee ballots must arrive in the Post Office by April 4 to be counted that day.
Although the 2,788 absentee ballots requested is higher than the 2014 Primary Election total turnout, that figure is 133 less than the 2,921 absentee ballots mailed for the 2020 General Election.
For the Nation’s inaugural 2014 Primary Election, absentee voters outnumbered the in-person vote. A total of 1,077 absentee voter ballots were counted and 721 Osages voted in-person for a total of 1,798 that year.
For 2022, there are six individuals with three each running for Principal Chief and Assistant Principal Chief offices in the April 4 primary election to determine which two candidates in each of the two office races with the highest vote counts will appear on the June 6 General Election ballot.
As in prior election years, the Wahzhazhe Elections board and staff hosted its candidate workshop on Jan. 31 for the Primary Election candidates and went over the voting process, election code and election rules/ regulations. The discussion also touched on candidate campaign reporting statements detailing each candidate’s donations and expenditures for their campaigns, as well as absentee voting.
“If you or any of your voters have not received their ballot within 5-7 days, you need to contact us. We can mail out a new ballot,” Rencountre told the candidates.
Election Board Chair Shannon Lockett said absentee ballots can be tracked once they are received for the counting process. “So, if you do end up getting two ballots and you try to vote both of them and send them in, when we process your first one, that’s the one that’s going to count and if we get another one from you, it’s going to flag it,” she said.
Lockett also added the same would happen if someone voted in-person and already submitted an absentee ballot. “If you got an absentee ballot, but you decided you want to come and vote, you can do that and sign an affidavit that you didn’t vote your absentee ballot – and if you really did, whichever one gets processed first, that one will count and when the second one comes in, it will be flagged that we already got a ballot from this voter.”
Assistant Principal Chief candidate RJ Walker asked if there are consequences for people who attempt to vote twice.
“We actually haven’t had that happen, our voters are pretty honest,” Rencountre responded. Lockett noted there are consequences specified in the election code, but “we haven’t had to implement them, thank goodness.”
In-person Election Day voting, as well as April 1-2 early voting, will take place at the ON Civic Center. COVID-19 precautions will be in place, but voters not able/ not willing to enter the building can request assistance to vote in their vehicles.
“Those elders, or people with lower immune systems, can still come and vote and not have to enter the building. We will give them voter assistance and they can vote outside in their cars,” Rencountre said.
“There is no electioneering within 300 feet to the entrance of the polling place, so out at the Civic Center, 300 feet is almost to the highway,” Rencountre said.
Examples of electioneering include: any written or printed materials, yard signs, stickers, buttons, bumper stickers, printed fans, and even talking about voting for/ against a particular candidate, said Rencountre. “We’ve had people come in with buttons on, we have them take them off, put them in their bag or pocket so they can go through and vote. (Vote for this candidate) shirts? We will have them turn it wrong-side out or if we have a shirt that’s their size on-hand, we will have them cover it up. We can’t have voters in there with something on that says, ‘vote for this candidate,’” she said.
“We have people standing all throughout the voting place monitoring for these things going on,” Rencountre said.
As for candidates appearing at the polling place, Rencountre said “candidates and/ or campaign committee members cannot be greeting voters as they approach the polling place, you can’t be standing at feet 300 and say, ‘Hey vote for me!’”
Only election officials and voters going to cast their votes will be allowed to remain within 50 feet of the polling place, Rencountre said.
For candidate reporting statements and according to the ON election rules and regulations, each election candidate shall file two campaign reporting statements with the Election Office listing their campaign donations and expenditures. Primary election candidates must file their first campaign reporting statements starting on March 11 and no later than March 18. The second campaign reporting statement is due by April 11 from all primary candidates and those who miss the deadlines or do not correct any identified report deficiencies may face penalties from the Election Board.
Another candidate workshop will be scheduled for the General Election certified candidates at a later date. Candidates running for ON Congressional office with six seats opening will receive similar candidate workshop materials.
The Wahzhazhe Elections Office toll-free number is (877) 560-5286 and the email address is electionoffice@osagenation-nsn.gov for election-related inquiries. Follow “Osage Elections” on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for updates on the 2022 primary and general elections.