Content about 2012 Osage General Election

As always there was something beautiful about the early morning rain. Then the sun came out. It was a good day.

As Osages head to the poll, Osage candidates are setting up their camps, decorating their tents and handing out freebies to the public.

Osage candidate Maria Whitehorn is handing out buttons that say “Vote Whitehorn” with a ribbon work design watermark. She also has purple koozies that say “Vote Whitehorn” with a check box on it.

Whitehorn decided to hand out buttons because she wanted to tell the story of ribbon work. The ribbon work that is featured on her buttons and campaign signs came from her Aunt Frances Kilpatrick.

Election Day has arrived and Osages are going to the poll to exercise their Constitutional right to vote.

Rick Luttrell and Sonya Holloway were the first two Osage voters to arrive, signing in promptly at 8 a.m. Others soon followed, all seeming to be in jovial moods.

Waymon Lain has always voted by absentee ballot but this year he decided to drive 340 miles from his home to make his mark.

Lain is from Joshua, Texas, which is about a six hour drive to Pawhuska.

“I think it is important to vote,” Lain said. “I like coming up here (Pawhuska) and this year I decided to drive up here to vote instead of by absentee [ballot].”  

Lain voted around noon and was going to visit the Osage Tribal Museum before making his trip back to Texas.

The 2012 Osage Nation General Election is history with the polls closing at 8 p.m. and the ballot counting underway.

Hundreds of Osages filed into the Congressional chambers throughout the day to cast ballots in the election determining which six Osages will sit on the Third Osage Nation Congress. Those who are elected will take oath of office next month.

As the dinnertime hours passed, some candidates said they had yet to vote at the polls but planned to do so before the doors were locked.

Election Day is Monday and Osages will be deciding who will be the next six members on the Third Osage Nation Congress.

On the ballot for the Osage General Election June 4 will be 34 candidates and seven possible amendments to the Osage Nation Constitution.

The poll opens at 8 a.m. and is located at the Osage Nation Congressional Chambers and closes at 8 p.m. The results of the election will be announced that evening.

The Osage News asked the Osage 2012 candidates why the Osage People should vote for them. This is the final question to all candidates before Election Day as a part of our Osage News Weekly Roundup series.

We allowed the candidates up to 300 words to answer. Their answers are published in the order they were received. Candidates are not required to participate in the series.

Olivia “Libbi” Gray

Virginia Kelderman began noticing campaign signs around Pawhuska but had no idea who the candidates were or what they were running for.

“I see a lot of signs on the streets and neighborhoods and I wonder who is running for what,” she said.   

Kelderman lives in Pawhuska, across the street from Osage candidate John Jech. 

“I see his signs on his lawn, and it looks really exciting,” she said. “But I don’t know how many seats are on the Osage Congress or how it is set up.”

Osages in New Mexico, California, Oklahoma and Pawhuska say they haven’t received their absentee ballots yet. The absentee ballot request deadline was May 15.

The Election Board asked Osage voters to allow five to seven business days to receive absentee ballots because Maryland-based TrueBallot Inc., the election company who conducted the 2010 Osage Election, is mailing the ballots. The five to seven days have passed and now Election Day is only four days away.

The Osage News asked the Osage 2012 candidates if they thought communication was something that needed to be improved within the Nation. This is the fifth in a series of questions that will be emailed to all candidates before Election Day as a part of our Osage News Weekly Roundup series.

We allowed the candidates up to 300 words to answer. Their answers are published in the order they were received. Candidates are not required to participate in the series.

The sixth and final Weekly Roundup question and answers will be published Friday (June 1).

My name is Justin Mays (Xu-ah Wa-kon-ta)

I am of the Strikeaxe family, who have always been active in Tribal government from the time of Chief Strikeaxe to the present day. My grandmother, Norma Jean Mays, was secretary to Chief Sylvester Tinker and also Chief George Tall Chief.

My parents, Paul & Marcella Mays, along with my brother, P.J. Mays have been in business in Osage County for 27 years. As a teenager, my first job was in the family business.