{"id":9302,"date":"2019-09-26T13:48:11","date_gmt":"2019-09-26T18:48:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/historic-power-company-election-at-rosebud\/"},"modified":"2019-09-26T13:48:12","modified_gmt":"2019-09-26T18:48:12","slug":"historic-power-company-election-at-rosebud","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unitedresourceconnection.org\/cannon-ball-nd-58528\/historic-power-company-election-at-rosebud\/","title":{"rendered":"Historic power company election at Rosebud"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With encouragement from Oyate For Fairness & Equal Representation (OFFER), Rosebud Sioux tribal members took part in counting ballots at the Cherry-Todd Electric Cooperative\u2019s 70th Annual Meeting and Election for board directors. COURTESY \/ Rosebud Cordier<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

VALENTINE, Nebraska \u2013 It seemed like a long-time a-coming, but three days after the vote count, the Sicangu Oyate constituents of the Cherry-Todd Electric Cooperative finally obtained the official tally Sept. 17, of election results for the board of directors.
\n\u201cWe already knew who won of course, but many people would like to know the actual vote count,\u201d said Sicangu tribal enrollee Rosebud Cordier, a leader of the grassroots citizen action group Oyate For Fairness & Equal Representation (OFFER).
\nThe 70th Annual Meeting and Election of the power company that serves the Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservation marked the first time in history that tribal members gained the majority of the seats on the board of directors.
\n\u201cAlthough the winners were announced, the vote count was not announced,\u201d Cordier told constituents in a social media post. \u201cI called the Cherry-Todd Electric office to ask what the vote count was \u2026. So, the office manager tells me that she can\u2019t release that information on advice of the CTE attorney, Dave Larson,\u201d Cordier said.
\nCordier then spoke to Cherry-Todd Electric Cooperative Executive Director Tim Grablander, she reported.
\n\u201cMr. Grablander tells me the same thing. The attorney has advised not to release the vote count to anyone except the candidates who won,\u201d she said.
\n\u201cWhy?\u201d she asked, mindful that more than 80 percent of the power company\u2019s customers are tribal members.
\n\u201cIt\u2019s a different policy this year, he says,\u201d Cordier quoted Grablander.
\n\u201cThese are the types of crazy things that we have been putting up with for years,\u201d she commented. \u201cThings have got to change. Imagine if the state or the tribe wouldn\u2019t tell their constituents the vote count on an election. It\u2019s public information!\u201d she added.
\nOFFER, which formed a decade ago with tribal government support, has campaigned since then to change the utility\u2019s makeup by encouraging reservation residents\u2019 voter participation at annual board meeting.
\nIn this election, the result was five tribal members on the eight-seat board. Cordier thanked incumbent tribal board member Noah \u201cSandy\u201d Tucker for providing the vote-count information.
\nTucker pulled in 178 votes to hold onto his position as one of three Todd County board directors. Incumbent board chair Shawn Bordeaux received the most votes, with 189. Wayne Frederick took the other seat, with 160.
\nNot seated were incumbent Dave Assman, with 131, and Tamaleon Wilcox, with 77.
\nWith two tribal candidates running for one at-large seat, Glen Yellow Eagle, earned 163 votes to Robert Becker\u2019s 98.
\nThe winners join tribal board member Whitney Meek, who holds one of two Mellette County director seats.
\nCherry County\u2019s two seats were not up for election. All winners serve three-year terms.
\nCherry-Todd Electric Cooperative and some 900 other electric cooperatives like it are utilities that originated through community organizing and were then established by the 1936 Rural Electrification Act to provide service where private corporations failed to invest.
\nThe coops are the providers for the majority of the area of the United States. Their structure affords the customers the opportunity to vote for the board of directors.<\/p>\n

(Contact Talli Nauman at talli.nauman@gmail.com<\/a>)<\/p>\n

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With encouragement from Oyate For Fairness & Equal Representation (OFFER), Rosebud Sioux tribal members took part in counting ballots at the Cherry-Todd Electric Cooperative\u2019s 70th Annual Meeting and Election for board directors. COURTESY \/ Rosebud Cordier VALENTINE, Nebraska \u2013 It seemed like a long-time a-coming, but three days after the <\/p>\n

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