Section GOV.03.07 — Certified Candidate List And Need For Primary Election

(a) Within five (5) days of the close of nominations, the Election Board shall meet to review and verify all acceptance/declination letters and petitions to prepare a certified list of all candidates for each office.

(b) This certified candidate list shall list the candidates alphabetically by office and identify whether a primary election is needed for any office.

(1) A primary shall be required for the offices of President, Vice-President or Treasurer when there are more than two (2) candidates running for the office.

(2) A primary shall be required for the office of Council member when there are more than eight (8) candidates running for office.

(d) If the certified candidate list identifies that a primary election is required, the Tribal Council secretary shall be responsible to ensure notice of the offices subject to the primary election is distributed to tribal members. Such notice shall be posted at tribal posting places, as well as posted on the tribal website and in the tribal newspaper.

(e) Preparation of Ballots and Electronic Voting Machine Card.

(1) The Tribal Council secretary will also have sample ballots prepared, which will be clearly marked as being sample ballots and which will be posted for public review.

(2) Ballots will only include the names of candidates certified for that election, as well as a space for write-in candidates.

(3) The Tribal Council secretary shall have the official ballots and the computer card(s) for the electronic voting machine prepared for the applicable election. The ballots and card(s) shall be delivered to the Election Board prior to election day.

(A) The Election Board shall not remove the ballots or card(s) from tribal headquarters.

(B) If an Election Board member loses the card(s), that person is responsible for the cost to replace.

(4) If an eligible candidate, as determined by the primary election, dies prior to the general election and before the ballots are printed, then the person(s) with the next highest vote counts shall have their name(s) added to the general election ballot.