It was something of an odd election for folks on the Navajo Nation. Despite the printer problems at polling places that forced long lines and a last-minute lawsuit to keep polls open late, there were also some places where the tribal ballot was notably sparse.
That’s because nearly 200 candidates were disqualified from the ballot as the result of a new campaign finance law they failed to follow. The penalty? Disqualification.
Now, the question is: What’s next? There’s been talk of a special election, and some candidates are suing.
Donovan Quintero, Navajo Times freelance reporter, joined The Show to discuss.
Full conversation
LAUREN GILGER: There were nearly 200 tribal candidates who were disqualified. Only one was successful in getting their name back on the ballot.
DONOVAN QUINTERO: Yes, it was actually a school board member. The election administration told me that there was a school board member who was reinstated.
Also, there was nine people who actually had their case go through the Navajo office of hearings and appeals by the sound of it. I'm not privy to this, to this information. That takes place at the OHA. But that said, the nine candidates, disqualified candidates, I guess, disagreed with OHA’s decision and now have filed with the Navajo Nation Supreme Court, because of that any upcoming special election is on hold until those cases are heard and decided on.
GILGER: OK. So there is some, some back and forth going on right now. What did this mean, Donovan, heading into this week's election? Like, were there a lot of positions on the tribal ballot that were just empty, didn't have candidates?
QUINTERO: Yes, it, you know, I did speak to some constituents out there, some voters and you know, they did notice that, you know, when, when they went to go vote, they noticed that there weren't many selections to choose from. They were a little bit concerned by that, a little bit also joking about it as well.
But, you know, they quickly turned their attention back to the national elections, but they did make a note of that, that they noticed that there, that there weren't too many people to vote from.
GILGER: There weren't too many people to vote for. So people were a little confused. Talk a little bit about what happens next. You mentioned these cases that are heading to court now from the candidates who wanted to push this further. But there's also been talk about a special election. What might that look like?
QUINTERO: Well, assuming the cases are heard as soon as possible, tentatively, from what I'm told, perhaps a special election for the chapter-level positions would take place sometime in February 2025.
GILGER: That's a ways off like February of next year. What does that mean, or what could it mean for these positions that, are they going to be empty until then?
QUINTERO: Well, the current, the current chapter officials who are in there will stay in there until Jan. 10. So it'll be more or less about a month that those positions will be open. But that said, you know, a lot of the, a lot of things do occur in, in January.
Like last year, for instance … higher elevation areas experienced a lot of heavy snowfall, which really a lot of the citizens became trapped in their homes. Emergency situations occurred, you know, and a lot of these actions begin at the chapter level because a lot of the chapter officials are very familiar with who their constituents are and there is a little bit of anxiety there relating to that. Like, what, what if something like that happens again?
You know, and then there's no one in there in these positions to really help emergency officials, you know, sort out who needs to become priority over someone else. So I think that's just one thing that they're looking at right now. I know that at the Division of Community Development, that is one of the things they're looking at. And they're under the executive branch, under President Buu Nygren and Vice President Richelle Montoya.
GILGER: So there could be some real implications to not having folks in those positions if that's what ends up happening. Remind us, Donovan, a little bit about why these new laws were put into place. Like the motivation here was to create more accountability among candidates.
But there was a big disconnect it seems when so many candidates didn't follow that, that law, that financial disclosure law.
QUINTERO: According to Navajo Nation Board of Election Supervisors Chairman Melvin Harrison, he said in the past, you know that they've tried to enforce candidates to campaign expense report, turn those in. But because there was really no law in place, they really couldn't enforce it and now that they have this new law in place.
According to Melvin Harrison again, he says that, you know, when candidates filed for these positions, they were told at that time that they need to be aware of this new law that's in place that they need to turn in their expense reports in a timely manner or else face something and this result they face disqualification.
GILGER: Right. Right. So there also has been some action from at least one Navajo Nation Council delegate, right, to, to deal with this. She introduced emergency legislation that could address the overwhelming number of disqualifications that happened. What would that legislation do?
QUINTERO: Well, Brenda Jesus did introduce an emergency legislation to rescind the new law, but they during a special session, the council spoke about that and it was quickly shot down, actually. I guess they had a five-day comment period and a lot of folks expressed their opinions about Jesus' legislation, saying that, you know, the new law’s in place for a reason, leave it alone. The candidates should know the law. So therefore, you know, they should be held accountable for it. And so Jesus decided to go with that reason, and the legislation dropped or died pretty quick.
GILGER: So let me ask you lastly, some of the candidates who were kicked off the ballot and some of their supporters have argued that this wasn't handled correctly. That the time to file a grievance wasn't sufficient, they didn't have enough time to make that happen. How has the nation responded?
QUINTERO: It's a mix. a lot of the supporters like you said, do, do express that they have expressed their disappointment. They do show the support with these, I guess you could say outgoing candidates now, outgoing folks who a lot of them were running for reelection. So particularly with those people, their constituents really were supporting them.
But for other areas, you know, for folks who've been in these positions for very long periods of time, you know, the constituents basically have said this is a good thing because now that some of these people are disqualified, it opens the door for new opportunity, it opens the door for, you know, progress to continue, whereas before under the these now outgoing elected officials, you know, nothing was really happening. So it, it's a mix.