Although the votes weren’t officially tabulated by press time, it looks like Beth Drost was the clear winner in the special election held on July 1 by the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa to fill the open seat for the Grand Portage Tribal Council Chair.
Drost received 173 votes to 121 for Janice “Marie” Spry in the special election held to see who would fill out the late Norman Deschampe’s Grand Portage Tribal Council Chair term.
Norman Deschampe, 65, was first elected to the Grand Portage Tribal Council at the age of 23 and went on to serve more than 40 years in tribal leadership—including 27 years as chairman—before he died at his home of a heart attack on Feb. 9.
The Grand Portage Business Committee AKA the Grand Portage Reservation Tribal Council announced a special election to be held on July 1, 2019.
The General Reservation Election Board certified the results on July 2, and published the results on July 3, after our press time.
Polls opened at the old log schoolhouse from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on July 1. Drost tallied 80 locally cast votes and 93 absentee votes. Spry received 62 votes in Grand Portage and 59 absentee votes.
The deadline to request a recount was 5 p.m. on July 5 and must be submitted to the General Election Board on the third day following the election.
Should the election stand, Drost will be the first woman chair of the Grand Portage Tribal Council.
Marie Spry was the vice-chair of the council when Norman passed away. Since that time she has been serving as the interim chair on the council, but in doing so she had to give up her seat on the council.
Rick Anderson was elected to fill the committee person at-large position left open when Spry accepted the interim chair position.
In addition to his many duties in Grand Portage, Norman Deschampe was also a former president of the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe, a tribal government that represents six Ojibwe bands in northern Minnesota.
American Indian Tribes are sovereign governments under the Constitution of the United States of America, and the Grand Portage Reservation Tribal Council is the governing body of the reservation and is one of six bands of Chippewa that make up the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe.
Grand Portage has five Tribal Council members in office: the chairman, vice-chairman, secretary/ treasurer, and two members at-large. Enrolled members of the Grand Portage Band of Lake Superior Chippewa elect the Tribal Council officers with elections held every two years for half of the official positions.
The goal of the council as stated on their mission statement is, “The Grand Portage Tribal Council provides for the needs of the people with health care, social services, education, jobs, housing, public safety, and more.”
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