Marshall, Washakie, Shay & Hill win Primary Election
Candidates advance to General Election against incumbents
Election Board member Angela Diaz shows candidates ballot envelopes on March 26 at Shoshone-Bannock Jr./Sr. High School.
By LORI ANN EDMO
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — Roland Lee Marshall, Claudia Janese Washakie, Darrell Shay and Adam Hill were the candidates receiving the most votes in the March 26 Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Primary Election.
They now face Fort Hall Business Council incumbents Ladd Edmo, Nathan Small, Lee Juan Tyler and Donna Thompson in the May 28 General Election.
Marshall received 358 votes; Washakie 212 votes; Shay 200 votes and Hill 195 votes. The other candidates and the votes received include: Blaine Edmo and Sherwin Racehorse with 183 votes; Arnold Appeney with 177 votes; Alan Brian Hood Jr. 151 votes; Kevin Callahan 148 votes; Wesley R. Edmo 127 votes; Burdette Osborne 126 votes and Tony Shay Moon Elk 100 votes.
Marshall said he’d like to take the time to say thank you to all that supported him in the 2021 Primary Election. He thanked the Election Committee for ensuring that the election process took place in the midst of everything we are currently dealing with in regards to the pandemic. “I would also like to thank all the candidates that chose to run and wish them well on their future endeavors. Congratulations to Claudia, Darrell, and Adam for advancing to General Elections in May,” he continued. “To all of the eligible tribal member voters out there, I would still like to encourage those of you who have not yet registered to get out and do so, and encourage everyone to vote in May. Once again thank you all for your continued support!”
Claudia Washakie thanked all the voters regardless of who they were voting for noting it’s important to exercise your right to vote because it creates change within our community. “We have a lot of work in our community that needs to get done. We have a lot of money coming down from the federal government and it’s an opportunity for our Tribes to capitalize on a lot of infrastructure and our programs so that we can better our community for our membership.” She said input is needed from the tribal members because without it you have a leadership that is running blind and they’re not making decisions in the best interests of the membership. She said the Enterprises and Gaming needs to be included in the decisions because right now those are the only entities bringing revenue into our community. In addition the Tribes really need to focus on getting more revenue different programs, different businesses up and running for the benefit of all tribal members. “It’s going to take a lot – it’s going to take membership to help us make decisions because we need decisions at our department level as well as at the business council level and we have to include the membership to help with the decisions because without it we don’t’ have a whole lot.” She encouraged people to move forward, let’s progress and be proactive with what we are doing in our community. Oose.
Darrell Shay thanked everyone who voted for him saying it’s only half the battle and have to get prepared for the next round of campaigning. “My rhetoric I’ve put out there I haven’t changed very much – I’m a proponent of transparency and inclusivity. We need to let the membership know what the council is doing, council decisions, the future plans we have,” he said. He noted inclusivity means including everybody. “I was the first to have the membership included in the decision making for any important decisions that got to be made especially for spending money that belongs to the membership — it doesn’t belong to the council, it doesn’t belong to every individual person. The membership has to be included in all those business decisions.” He added he’s going to push for that, even if he doesn’t get on. In addition he intends to push for having Called meetings and Annual meetings, go back to the way we used to be able to include everybody. He thanked all the candidates that ran and encouraged them to not give up. He also thanked the Election Board for doing the best they can because COVID-19 made changes to our community.
Adam Hill said first and foremost he wanted to thank all of those who made the effort to get out and vote. It’s been stated it’s been a different type of season for an election year as well as everybody’s lifestyle, he said again thanking the voters getting their mail ballots in. There’s a lot of issues that are being addressed and with the future. He noted there a lot of concerning issues being addressed but once an individual gets in office that’s where the true information will be up against and what’s in the best interests of the Tribes. He thanked the Election Board and staff along with the changes they endured to make the election happen. He said times are changing and we need to look out for the betterment of the Tribe.
From left, Roland Marshall, Claudia Washakie, Darrell Shay and Adam Hill.
Incumbent council members Ladd Edmo and Lee Juan Tyler were in attendance. Edmo said they came to watch and they were let in because they are incumbents. He’s looking forward to a new season for running for council. He thanked everyone and the staff. He wished the candidates good luck and the ones who didn’t make it, it’s a process and have to really campaign hard sometimes.
Tyler noted the sunset outside and how beautiful it was. He thanked everybody including the police that were present. He said the candidates want the betterment of our people. “We want our Tribe to thrive and that’s our main goal.” He said it’s a chapter in our history and it feels good to be a part of it.
A total of 669 ballots were cast but the Tribal Election Board voided 15 because there was no signature on the “Official Election Ballot Envelope.” There were 1254 registered voters as of the Primary Election deadline.
