Unofficial results from May 3 vote: Special Election included proposed amendments to GRIC Constitution and Community Council elections for Districts 2 – 7

May 6, 2016

GRIN Staff

Gila River Indian News

Gila River Indian Community voters went to the polls on May 3 to vote for council representatives in Districts 2-7 and to also decide on proposed amendments to the GRIC Constitution.

According to the unofficial results in the 2016 Community Council election, four Council Representatives will maintain their seats: Carol Schurz in District 2, Carolyn Williams in District 3, Robert Stone in District 5, and Devin Redbird in District 7.

Barney Enos Jr. defeated incumbent Angelia Allison in District 4. Charles Goldtooth, who defeated Danelle Spring, will be representing District 6 once current Council Representative Albert Pablo’s term is complete.

Schurz won District 2 with 54 total votes over Alison Anderson (36 total votes) and Jewel Whitman (17 total votes), with zero votes for write-in candidates.

Carolyn Williams received 77 total votes in her victory in District 3 over Dale Enos (64 total votes), Darren Pedro-Martinez (60 total votes) and Myron Schurz (58 total votes). Write-in candidates received 4 total votes.

With 62 total votes, Barney Enos, Jr. won the District 4 election over Sherwin Whitman (58 total votes) and Angelia Allison (49 total votes). There were three votes for write-in candidates.

Robert Stone defeated candidate Antonio Davis with 161 total votes to Davis’s 92. Three votes for write-in candidates were counted.

Charles Goldtooth defeated Danelle Spring by a margin of 150 total votes to Spring’s 65. Ten candidates were written in.

Devin Redbird’s 51 total votes helped him win in District 7 over Pamela Thomas (34 total votes) and Angelo Nelson (22 total votes). There were no write-in candidates.

The results will be official once they are certified by Community Council.

In the Special Election for Constitutional Amendments, five questions were posed to voters for “Yes” and “No” votes on changes to the GRIC Constitution. According to the unofficial results, voters voted “Yes” on Questions 1, 3 and 5, and “No” on Questions 2 and 4.

The three “Yes” votes were for changes to Article VI-Qualifications (Question 1), Article IX-Vacancies (Question 3), and Article III-Membership and Article XV-Powers of the Gila River Indian Community (Question 5).

Voters voted “No” on proposed amendments to Article VII-Appointed Officials and Committee Members (Question 2) and Article VIII-Tenure of Office and Article X-Elections (Question 4).

To be valid, the Special Election needed 30 percent of registered voters to participate. According to the unofficial results, 17.82 percent of registered voters cast ballots in the special election. Out of the 6,463 total registered voters, 1,152 voters cast ballots, approximately 787 voters shy of the 30 percent requirement.