Content about Politics

The Osage Nation Election Day was held on Monday, June 4, 2012 on the Osage Nation Campus in Pawhuska. Osages had the opportunity to vote from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. for the next six members on the Third Osage Nation Congress.

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.

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 deadline is less than a week away for Osages to submit their absentee ballot request forms into the Election Office for the June 4 General Election.

May 15 is the final day the Osage Nation Election Office will accept absentee ballot requests from Osages who do not plan on voting in-person on Election Day in Pawhuska.

So far, the Election Office reports its number of absentee ballot requests have exceeded the number requested in the 2010 General Election.

Osage congressional hopefuls can now register to be official candidates for the 2012 Osage General Election June 4.  

Berbon Hamilton was the first candidate to walk through the Osage Election Office doors this morning, said Delores Davis, election office staff. He was waiting for her to open the doors at 7:55 a.m. Hamilton will be just one of many that will put his hat in the ring for a seat on the Third Osage Nation Congress.

The candidacy-filing period begins today (March 15) and ends April 2.

Osages are being asked to visit the poll twice this year.

The General Election, scheduled for Monday, June 4, is for six seats on the Third Osage Nation Congress and seven proposed amendments to the Osage Constitution.

However, many Osages at a Feb. 28 Grayhorse Town Hall meeting didn’t know there is going to be a Special Election Aug. 13. The Special Election is for four amendments to the Osage Constitution regarding the Osage Minerals Estate.

Joe and Carol Conner describe the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve north of Pawhuska as one of the most pristine spots in the world.

During a sunny day’s drive on the Preserve’s unpaved road, the Conners take in the sunlight, grassy hilltop views and watch small buffalo herds walk across the grassland which hasn’t been developed or farmed on. “If this is not pristine, I don’t know what is,” Joe Conner (Osage) said.

Area residents – Osage and non-Osage – joined Principal Chief John Red Eagle and other political leaders from the Osage Nation, and across Oklahoma, to celebrate a day of “Unity” on Dec. 10 in an effort to create “a better future for all who share in this great land.”

It was 3:19 p.m. Wednesday when an e-mail began circulating the Osage Nation campus that read, “Chief Red Eagle just sent a text that he is in the White House now.”

Tuesday is when Red Eagle’s administration had sent out a bulletin that Red Eagle had been one of 12 tribal leaders chosen who would get to meet with President Barack Obama in the White House the day before the start of the annual Tribal Nations Conference today.

Principal Chief John Red Eagle has issued an executive proclamation for a Special Session of the Second Osage Nation Congress which will start Monday Dec. 13 in the Congressional Chambers.

Red Eagle issued the proclamation Dec. 7 with one item listed for consideration concerning gaming law. Up for consideration is amending the Nation's Tribal Gaming Law Update Act, according to the proclamation. It is listed as ONCA 07-09.