‘The fight has just begun’
Jones refuses to concede presidential race, vows legal challenge

WINDOW ROCK

Presidential candidate Justin Jones told supporters Tuesday night that he and running mate Emily Ellison would not concede the Navajo Nation presidential race after unofficial results showed them trailing Crystalyne Curley and Christopher Clark Deschene by 1,115 votes.

“So tonight, I and Emily Ellison and my family, we are not conceding,” Jones said. “The fight has just begun.”

Unofficial results from all 110 chapters showed Curley, the speaker, and Deschene with 32,094 votes, compared with 30,979 for Jones and Ellison.

Jones questioned the vote count, citing what he described as mathematical errors, but did not identify specific discrepancies.

“The numbers are very close,” he said. “They are so close that statistically, and every way, and every which way, there are some dark gray mathematical errors that we’re looking at.”

Jones, a Farmington attorney who finished first in the July 21 primary, said his campaign had spent seven months challenging what he described as corruption in the Navajo Nation government.

“We ran on the fact that there is corruption in this town,” Jones said of Window Rock. “We are the first to challenge the corruption in this town.”

Jones said his campaign would pursue legal challenges under Title 11 of the Navajo Nation Code, which governs elections.

“We will challenge every part of Title 11,” he said. “We will challenge every part of Title 1 through 26.”

Jones accused Curley of using Legislative staff and Navajo Nation money for campaign activities. He did not provide evidence to support the allegation during his remarks.

“Why do you have a candidate that uses her staff, uses Navajo Nation money?” he asked. “Why are you in charge of ethics and rules? Who was supposed to investigate all of these things?”

Jones said his campaign would seek records through the legal process.

“I get to subpoena you,” he said. “Now I get to file legal documents to get those documents to show that you are cheating.”

He also raised the possibility of seeking perjury charges against Deschene over his 2014 presidential candidate application.

Deschene was disqualified from the 2014 presidential race after declining to answer questions about his Navajo language fluency during legal proceedings. Jones represented former presidential candidate Hank Whitethorne, one of two candidates who challenged Deschene’s qualifications. The disqualification did not constitute a criminal perjury conviction.

Speaking in Navajo and English, Jones said his campaign was “going to war now.”

“I still believe in the rule of law,” he added.

Jones called on attorneys from the Navajo Nation Bar Association, Arizona State Bar and New Mexico State Bar to join his legal effort.

Campaign organizers also asked supporters to contribute money toward a legal challenge, laying out a blanket to collect donations.

“We are going to mount the biggest legal attack on corruption that the Navajo Nation has ever seen, because we are sick and tired of all of this,” Jones said.

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