Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Law Library
Stockbridge-Munsee Tribal Code.

Section GOV.03.11 — Contested Ballots

(a) Should a voter's eligibility to vote be challenged, the voter will be permitted to vote except that the ballot shall not be counted. Instead, the vote shall be recorded using the following process.

(1) The ballot shall be folded by the voter and placed into an envelope, which will be given to the election judge.

(2) The election judge shall identify the reason that the ballot is contested on the envelope. The judge shall initial the envelope, seal it and then place it in the ballot box.

(3) The judge will inform the voter that the Tribal Court will decide whether the contested ballot will be counted.

(b) After the closing of the polls, the Election Board will determine whether there are any contested ballots.

(1) The Election Board will tally the number of sealed envelopes containing contested ballots. The envelopes will not be opened.

(2) After being tallied, the Election Board shall place the sealed envelopes for storage in the ballot box until it is determined whether the ballots need to be forwarded to the Tribal Court for assessment as to whether the ballot should be counted.

(c) After the vote tally is completed, the Election Board will determine whether the vote margin is such that the counting of the contested ballots could have impacted the election results. For example, if there are 2 contested ballots, then are there any races where the margin of victory was by 2 votes or less.

(1) When there are no races that could have been changed by the counting of the contested ballots, then the ballots will remain sealed.

(2) If there is a race where the counting of the contested ballot could have changed the result, then the Election Board will submit the sealed envelope containing the contested ballot to the Tribal Court for determination on whether the ballot should be counted.

(3) The Tribal Court shall schedule and hold an expedited review hearing within 5 working days of the election to determine whether or not the ballot should be counted. The Tribal Court's decision shall be issued within 2 working days of the conclusion of the hearing.

(4) After the Tribal Court issues its decision, the sealed envelope containing the ballot shall be returned to the Election Board.

(A) If the Tribal Court determines that the ballots should be counted, only then shall the Election Board open and count the ballot. The vote shall then be added to the vote tally and the new results shall be certified.

(B) If the Tribal Court decides that a vote is not valid, then the ballot shall remain in the sealed envelope.

(5) The ballot or sealed envelope shall be kept in the ballot box with the other ballots by the Election Board.