There will be several new faces on the Petersburg Indian Association Tribal Council after Monday’s election. Four candidates challenging incumbents for seats on the council beat their opponents. The four challengers ran on a united ticket.
Debra O’Gara will be the new council president. She received 74 votes while incumbent president Cris Morrison received 33 votes.
Incumbents Brenda Norheim, Mary Ann Rainey, and Marc Martinsen lost their council seats to challengers Nathan Lopez, Jeanette Ness, and Everett Bennett by similar margins. Heather Conn is the only incumbent to keep her seat, winning with 67 votes.
Voter turnout was exceptional. Tribal members cast 109 ballots in the election. That’s about four times as many as last year.
The high turnout could be in part because early voting was an option for the first time this year, with four early voting days during the month of December.
The election will be canvassed this Thursday, January 11th. The next Tribal Council board meeting is Wednesday, January 17th at 5pm. The meeting will be held in the conference room at the Petersburg Indian Association building at 15, 12th Street.
