Council Wrote New Rules to Run for Council. The Constitution Never Signed Off
Six qualifications appear in the 2025 Election Ordinance that don’t appear in the 1950 Constitution — and the amendment process that would have made them official never ran
The 1950 Constitution of the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma asks three things of a Member who wants a Council seat. Be 21. Live in the district. Be a Member. That’s the whole list, and it hasn’t been amended.
The 2025 UKB Election Ordinance, Resolution 25-UKB-132, adds six more.
Filing opens Aug. 3 and closes Aug. 14. Only Council seats are on this year’s ballot, two-year terms. Chief, Assistant Chief, Secretary and Treasurer run four-year terms and aren’t up this cycle.
Section 501 requires two years living in the district before filing — longer than the Constitution’s residency language. Five years of exclusive Band membership. No prior service as an elected official of another federally recognized tribe. A valid driver’s license. A high school diploma or equivalent. A criminal background check, with a felony conviction inside the last 10 years enough to keep a candidate off the ballot. None of it is in the Constitution.
The Constitution gives the Council power to hold elections “under rules and regulations to be prescribed by the Council.” The 1950 Corporate Charter gives the Band power to “regulate the manner of holding Band elections.” Neither document says whether that authority covers adding new qualifications for candidates, or just covers running the vote itself.
Article XII lays out how the Constitution actually gets changed: a Council majority vote or a petition signed by 30 percent of eligible voters, then approval from the Secretary of the Interior, then a Membership vote with at least 30 percent turnout.
Section 501 didn’t go through Article XII. Nobody’s produced a document saying why.
A candidate disqualified after the background check has 10 business days to appeal in writing.
Meeting the Constitution’s three qualifications gets a candidate nothing under the current ordinance. Section 501 has to clear too, or the Election Board keeps the name off the ballot.
SOURCES
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, Constitution and Bylaws (1950), Articles V, VI, VII, XII, XL.
United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians in Oklahoma, Corporate Charter (1950).
2025 UKB Election Ordinance, Resolution 25-UKB-132, Sections 501-502.
By Troy Littledeer.