Navajo fluency referendum set for Tuesday

WINDOW ROCK

Navajos will go to the polls on Tuesday to finally settle the Navajo fluency question.

The issue took center stage during the last presidential elections with the disqualification of Christopher Deschene as a candidate after he came in second in the presidential primary.

The question being posed to the Navajo concerns future elections. The referendum is asking tribal voters if they want to change the current laws which give the tribal courts the authority to decide whether a candidate meets the Navajo fluency requirement in the Navajo Nation Code.

The new law being proposed would allow Navajo voters to make that decision rather than the courts. A yes vote on the referendum then would mean that candidates with little or no knowledge of the Navajo language would be able to run and it would be up to the Navajo voters to decide whether or not that makes a difference come the time when they vote.

Edison Wauneka, director of the Navajo Election Administration, said his office is still getting phone calls from people asking about the election but not as many as when the early voting began almost month ago.

As for early voting, he said it was very low and even lower than usual for a special referendum.

This indicates that the interest in the subject has decreased since the Navajo Nation Council first agreed to the referendum. At that time, the special election to fill the position of tribal president and vice president had not been held and supporters of Deschene were hoping that a favorable vote in the referendum for changing the law would allow Deschene to run for president in 2015, possibly as a third candidate.

Even Deschene himself, contacted Saturday during the Native American Journalists Association convention in Washington, D.C., did not have much to say about the referendum. Now working for the U.S. Department of Energy, Deschene said he could not get involved in tribal politics, although he did say he would vote.

Early voting will end at 5 p.m. Friday.

Polls will be open on the reservation from 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. on Tuesday at all of the chapters.

Wauneka said the vote count will be held Tuesday at the Navajo Nation Museum with the first chapters’ totals expected to come in a few minutes after the polls close.

Since there is only one question on the ballot, counting is expected to go quickly and Wauneka said he is hoping to have the full results early Tuesday evening.

The tribal council has indicated it wants other referendum issues to be voted on by the Navajo people and Wauneka said this may come up in the summer session which begins on Monday.

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