Thousands of members from the White Mountain Apache Tribe turned out to the polls on Wednesday to vote in a primary election that resulted in the sitting chairman losing his chance at serving another term.
In a three-way race, Chairman Kasey Velasquez earned a little over 400 votes, while his challengers both received nearly four times as much, according to unofficial results from the White Mountain Apache Tribe Election Commission.
In the end though, longtime Whiteriver school board member Orlando Carroll got the most votes by a margin of more than 50 ballots. He will face off against Councilman Gary Alchesay in the April general election.
The news was first broadcasted by tribal radio station KNNB late Wednesday, while that outcome was certified the next morning. On social media, Carroll wrote Apaches “sent a message with your vote for a positive, new direction.”
This election came the same day the tribe announced that a special prosecutor declined to criminally charge Velasquez under tribal law for allegations of sexual harassment against the HR director.
The chairman remains on paid administrative leave amid an ongoing civil investigation being carried out by same special prosecutor, which is “expected to be concluded shortly,” according to a notice from Vice-Chairman Jerome Casey III.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Indian Affairs’ Missing and Murdered Unit referred its investigation to the U.S. Attorney’s Office last month, while Velasquez’s defense attorney did not respond when asked about her client’s primary loss.
-
Representatives from the Navajo, Hopi and San Juan Southern Paiute tribes spoke in front of a Senate Committee to support the Northeastern Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement. -
Native American tribes across the West are trying — and in more and more cases succeeding — in getting ancestral lands back. -
American bison are a symbol of the West that might’ve vanished from this landscape entirely — if not for conservation efforts. Each year, the city of Denver donates buffalo from a long-established herd to federally recognized tribes and nonprofits. -
The U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs has invited tribal leaders from across the Grand Canyon State to testify on Capitol Hill. The Northeast Arizona Indian Water Rights Settlement Act is the subject of Wednesday’s hearing. -
Highschoolers across six BIE-run schools in South Dakota, Oklahoma, Montana and New Mexico are already participating, including Northwest High School in Shiprock on the Navajo Nation.
