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Candidates announced for tribal elections

Candidates announced for tribal elections

With less than two months to go before the Primary Election Thursday, June 4, the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians Board of Elections has released its list of candidates certified to run in the 2021 elections for Tribal Council and School Board.

The filing period for tribal elections ended on March 5, but the EBCI did not release the candidate list until today, April 15, which is the deadline enshrined in tribal law for that list’s official publication in The Cherokee One Feather. The list includes all candidates certified as eligible to run for election, but no list of prospective candidates was made public prior to certification. The list is reprinted below as it appears on The One Feather site, as requests to tribal officials requesting that a list be provided directly to The Smoky Mountain News were not immediately returned. 

All 12 Tribal Council seats — two for each township — are up for election, as well as school board seats representing Wolfetown, Birdtown and Big Cove. There will be one open seat on each board. On Tribal Council, Big Cove Representative Perry Shell will not run for re-election, and on the school board, Representative Gloria Griffin is not seeking re-election.

Tribal Council seats with more than four candidates will be on the ballot in June, with voters selecting their top two candidates. This year, there will not be Primary Elections for Tribal Council seats representing Big Cove, Painttown or Cherokee County/Snowbird.

Tribal Council

Birdtown

Albert Rose 

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Boyd Owle 

Gilbert Crowe Jr. 

Gloria “Punkin” Griffin 

Robin Lambert 

Jacob George 

Cyndi Lambert 

Wolfetown

Jess Sneed 

Bo Crowe 

Bill Taylor 

Chelsea Taylor Saunooke 

Sam “Frell” Reed 

Yellowhill

Tom Wahnetah 

T.W. Price Saunooke 

Dave Wolfe 

Stephanie Saunooke French 

Christopher Reed 

Shannon Ross 

Elvia Walkingstick (Write-in candidate)

Big Cove

Patrick Hill 

Richard French

Teresa McCoy 

Painttown

Tommye Saunooke 

Dike Sneed 

Bentley Tahquette 

Cherokee County/Snowbird  

Adam Wachacha 

Bucky Brown 

William A. “Billy” Brown 

Janell Rattler 

 

School Board

Big Cove

Kristina Hyatt 

Lavita Hill 

Karen French-Browning 

Lori Taylor 

Damian Solis 

Birdtown

Melanie Lambert 

Ashford Smith 

Bree Stamper 

Ray Long 

Wolftown

Isaac “Ike” Long 

Berdie Toineeta 

Bucky Squirrel 

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