Reasons for petition denial questioned
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Editor,
The Tribal Council stated in a letter to the Peoples’ Voice dated June 20, 2013, “the petition is denied.” The basis for this decision was the failure of the petition to meet the minimum number of qualifying signatures, coupled with an improper referendum request. The council states that the total number of petition signatures they received from the Peoples’ Voice was 1,259. The Peoples’ Voice submitted the petition containing 1,448 signatures on May 7, 2013 during the council meeting. We have photo static copies of the entire petition, including pages 51-62 (approximately 189 signatures) that the council claims was missing. According to Ordinance 53-A Section 4, “The Tribal Secretary shall acknowledge in writing his receipt of the petition indicating the exact number of signatures which are attached.” Council Secretary Mathias signed a receipt acknowledging he received our petition.
Under Section 5 Challenges: The council further stated in their letter of denial of the petition, the following: “In our review we found 263 questionable signatures. A.) Off-reservation residence. B.) Signatures do not correspond with signatures on file. C.) Addresses do not correspond with (legal residence) addresses on file. D.) Duplicate signatures, one was allowed. E.) Wrong enrollment number for individual.”
53-A Section 2, states among its requirements, “as well as a current mailing address of each signer.” By this guideline we asked petition signers to give the address where they received their mail/per capita checks. 53-A does not require a residency address but rather specifies a mailing address. Actual voting requires a residency address.
53-A Section 5 also states: “No challenges will be considered which is not accompanied by supporting evidence in writing.” Tribal Secretary Mathias, Lawrence Kenmille, and the Council are the parties challenging the signatures. To this date the Peoples’ Voice, after numerous requests, have been denied the written evidence of the challenged signatures.
These are only a few of the concerns that the Peoples’ Voice has about the Councils’ letter of denial. Their letter closed stating: “the Council will not be taking any further action on the ?petition, and considers this matter closed.”
The Peoples’ Voice Media
Donna Orr, St. Ignatius
Joyce Mitchell, Ronan
Joelene Frey, Polson
