Section GOV.03.08 — Primary Election
(a) The purpose of a primary election is to reduce the number of candidates running for each office.
(b) When required, the primary election will be held on the third (3rd) Saturday in September at the headquarters of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community. The voting shall take place between the hours of 8:00 A.M. and 8:00 P.M., and voting shall be by secret ballot in booths provided for that purpose.
(c) After conducting the primary election and tallying the vote, the Election Board will certify the eligible candidates for the general election. The Election Board shall prepare the certified candidate list, which lists the candidates alphabetically by office, and deliver such list to the Tribal Council secretary.
(1) The two (2) candidates with the most votes for each individual office (President, Vice-President and Treasurer) in the primary shall be candidates on the ballot in the general election.
(2) The eight (8) candidates with the most votes for a Council member seat in the primary shall be candidates on the ballot in the general election.
(3) In the event the primary election results in a tie for a spot on the ballot for a general election, the tied candidates will be included on the general election ballot even when it results in more than 2 candidates running for individual office or 8 candidates for the office of Council member. For example, in a race for an individual office, if candidate X has 125 votes, candidates Y and Z both have 100 votes, and candidate W has 50 votes, then there will be 3 candidates (X, Y and Z) on the general election ballot for that individual office.
