Each year, the Citizen Potawatomi Nation holds elections for positions in the Tribal government. This year’s ballot includes two legislative seats in addition to the annual Tribal budget.
The legislative race to represent Oklahoma District 9 will be contested by one incumbent and one challenger. Current District 9 Legislator Paul Wesselhöft will face challenger Jay Laughlin.
District 12 incumbent, Paul Schmidlkofer, was the lone candidate filing for his seat and will run unopposed.
Only Oklahoma voters can cast ballots for these two legislative seats.
Election Day is June 27, 2020, the Saturday of the CPN Family Reunion Festival.
Candidate profiles and Q&As will be in upcoming editions of the Hownikan before the election.
In addition to the legislative seats, Tribal voters will cast their ballots on the Nation’s annual budget. It outlines the expenditure of the CPN trust fund’s earnings. No principal from the fund is spent. The budget pays for national service projects and the executive branch of the Tribal government.
In-person voting takes place at Tribal headquarters near Shawnee, Oklahoma, on June 27, 2020. Polls open at 7 a.m. and close at 2 p.m. Tribal citizens must show their CPN ID to receive a ballot.
Absentee ballot request forms will be mailed to CPN members’ last known address on March 1, 2020. Absentee ballots will be mailed to members’ last known address on May 1, 2020. The CPN Election Committee must receive absentee ballots by 10 a.m. on June 27, 2020, in order to be accepted. Absentee ballot requests may be made in writing by sending the voter’s name, address, Tribal ID number and legal signature to the CPN Election Committee, P.O. Box 310, Tecumseh, OK, 74873. Absentee ballot request forms must be postmarked by June 6, 2020.
Citizen Potawatomi are encouraged to contact Tribal Rolls to ensure their address information is up to date at 800-880-9880.