BIA election set for July 9

Registration forms must be received by 3 p.m. Monday, June 2

By Nicole Montesano

Smoke Signals staff writer

Tribal members who wish to vote in the upcoming Bureau of Indian Affairs constitutional amendment election Wednesday, July 9, must register to vote, even if they are already registered to vote in Tribal elections.

If approved, the constitutional amendment would remove the BIA from future constitutional amendment elections.

In order to amend the Tribal Constitution, it must be approved by at least two-thirds of the voters, provided that at least 30% of eligible voters cast ballots. 

Registration forms must be received by the BIA Secretarial Election Board’s office in New Mexico by 3 p.m. Monday, June 2. Registration may be sent by priority mail to ensure timely delivery. Forms should be sent to: Secretarial Election Board, P.O. Box 44607, Rio Rancho, New Mexico, 87174-9931.

Tribal members should have received their registration packets in the mail. Voters must be at least 18 by or on election day.

In April, the Tribal Council authorized an election to amend the Tribe’s Constitution, to remove BIA oversight from future elections on constitutional amendments. It passed with a 5-2 vote.

All ballots must be received at the Grand Ronde Post Office by 4:30 p.m. election day. Results will be posted the same day at the Tribal Community Center, Tribal Governance Center and the BIA Northwest Regional Office, 911 NE 11^th Ave., Portland.

For more information, call Secretarial Election Board Chairman Gene Hughes at 971-277-4087 or Gene.Hughes@bia.gov.

The Tribe’s Election Board will hold office hours to answer questions from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday and Wednesday through the end of June. Office hours will also be held from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Tuesday through Thursday, June 3-5, for any challenges to the voter list.

The board may be reached at 503-879-2271 or by emailing election.board@grandronde.org.

More information about the proposed amendment can also be found at www.grandronde.org/press-media/tribal-announcements/2025-constitutional-amendment/.

The last time the question of removing the federal government from the amendment process was put before Tribal voters was March 2015. The proposal was defeated by a vote of 381 to 230.