A special primary election was held in Grand Portage on Tuesday, December 7, 2010 to narrow the ballot for a February 8, 2011 special general election. On that February ballot will be Rob Hull and April (Clearwater-Day) McCormick running for the Reservation Tribal Council (RTC) secretarytreasurer seat and Arvid Dahl and Christina “Tina” Deschampe for the committeeman II seat. Hull, who currently serves as RTC committeeman II, gave up that seat to run for secretary-treasurer. He won the majority of the primary votes with 144 or 43.50% of the vote. McCormick received 117 votes or 35.25% of the vote. The third candidate, Geraldine Kozlowski, received 70 votes or 21.15%.
There were 12 citizens on the ballot for the committeeman II seat and Dahl received the highest number of votes, 108, for 32.43% of the vote. Thenext highest vote getter was Deschampe with 49 votes, for 14.71% of the vote.
The vacancies and special election results from the resignation of Dean Deschampe who was elected to the RTC in June 2009 and resigned in October 2010.
The election is held in accordance with Minnesota Chippewa Tribe ordinances and is overseen by Election Judge Gale Carlson, Alternate Election Judge Bill Dahl, Clerk Carol Cleveland, and Teller Marcy McIntire. The citizens elected in the primary will be on the general election ballot on February 8, 2011.
The Grand Portage Reservation Tribal Council is the governing body of the reservation. The enrolled members of the band elect the tribal council officers. The council oversees health care, social services, education, jobs, housing, public safety, and more.
Leave a Reply