Dixey, Tindore & Stone advance to Sho-Ban Tribes General Election
From left, Louise E. Dixey, Michael Tindore and Lemuel Stone.
By JOSEPH WADSWORTH
Sho-Ban News
FORT HALL — The Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Primary Election was March 27 where Louise Dixey received the most votes with 287, Michael Tindore received 241 votes and Lemuel Stone 232 votes. Bobbie Jo Penney received 227 votes, Claudia Janese Washakie with 207 and Jamie Dawn Bache 182 votes.
The top three advance to the May 29 General Election and will run against Fort Hall Business Council incumbents Ronald Todd Appenay, Devon Boyer and Donna Thompson.
Primary Election results were certified on Tuesday, March 31.
Election Board Chairwomen Lisa Honena started the election returns night introducing the Election Board Vivian Wahtomy, vice-chair, Angela Diaz, secretary, Sara Thompson, Enrollment Liaison, along with members Carletta Yellowjohn and Carmen Mejia.
Honena said a few words about the passing of Shoshone-Bannock Tribal Attorney Bill Bacon saying the Election Board sends their condolences out to his family and to his co-workers within the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes “to a lot of people he was a good friend and a legal advisor to many of the Tribal departments.”
After the ballots were counted, Michael Tindore thanked everyone who voted and thanked the people who were in-person to watch the count. “Thank you to all those that trusted me with your vote. I appreciate you all and thank you all for all those that made your voice heard. I know it’s just the primary, so we got a lot to work to do, but thank you very much for all your votes.”
Fort Hall Police Officers open a ballot box at the Shoshone-Bannock Tribes Primary Election returns night at the TBC Council Chambers on March 27.
Lemuel Stone said, “Thank you guys for the vote of confidence, thank the candidates, thank the election committee, and everybody out there, even the non-voters, we need to get them voting.”
Louise Dixey said, “I’m happy that all of you voted, and I feel good about it, there’s some major issues that we were discussing at all the districts and all these new candidates they did a really good job and I’m proud of them because at least they stepped up to make a difference.”
“There are far more issues that we need to address, and we will be hoping to have some candidate forums because it’s needed, we need answers and I’m sure all of us will make them accountable, thank you again for your votes, I look forward to the next round,” she said.
Claudia Washakie got up and offered her condolences to Bill Bacon’s family and colleagues within the Tribes. “It’s hard to find a really good tribal attorney out there let alone one that can argue in the state or in the federal district court of appeals, and we also were very privileged to have him, because he was able to argue at the U.S. Supreme Court.”
Community members gather for the SBT Primary Election results at the TBC Council Chambers.
“I want to say congratulations to the top three you guys earned it; I really want to help support you in anyway in the general election. I just want to say thank you for those who helped me get, as far as we did, in this primary. I appreciate the battle. And thanks,” she said.
Jamie Dawn Bache thanked everyone that voted and said that he had fun, “It wasn’t so fierce as people like to say, in my view, you know. I thought it was kind of we were all laid back.” He said it was an experience that he enjoyed and that there needs to be more people to come out and vote, he thanked everyone for the opportunity “Let’s keep going and let’s get more people out here vote.”
There was a total of 546 tribal register voters that cast ballots in the election with 32 being new registered voters out of 1,018 registered voters.
