DURANGO Southern Ute Indian tribal members elected the tribes first woman chairperson in a special election Tuesday.
Among five candidates, Pearl Casias won the race with 37 percent of votes, according to unofficial results. Casias, a former Tribal Court judge, Tribal Council member and vice chairwoman, will come out of retirement to lead the tribe for the next eight months until the next general election in November.
She was scheduled to be sworn in Wednesday morning.
About half the tribes registered voters cast ballots.
The special elections were called after former Tribal Chairman Matthew Box resigned Feb. 10 amid mounting allegations of administrative wrongdoing and mismanagement of the tribes governmental and business affairs.
In a letter calling for Boxs resignation, the Tribal Council outlined reasons for its decision. Among them was Boxs failure to communicate constructively and collaboratively, the letter said.
In short, we have lost all confidence in your ability to effectively lead our Tribe, it said.
Both of Boxs top appointed executive officers, Andrew Frost and Johnny Valdez, left their positions in the days before Boxs resignation.
The four other candidates running for tribal chair were Southern Ute tribal member Kevin Frost; former tribal chairman Clement Frost; former Tribal Council member Richard Rick Jefferson and Box.
Even though Casias did not get more than 50 percent of the vote, there will not be a runoff because of special-election guidelines.
Casias said she would advocate for more housing options and employment opportunities, the unification and future cooperation between Tribal Council members, the diversification of the tribes growth fund and improvement in the court system as it deals with social services and families.
She said she has not yet determined how or if she will address the issues that resulted in the Boxs departure.
The people called me, and they had very legitimate concerns regarding my stated platforms, said Casias about why she decide to run. My people have always come first.
Jefferson, the only other candidate at the ballot counting Tuesday night, congratulated Casias.
The other three candidates did not return phone calls made after the election results were announced.
Jefferson said he was interested to see where the tribe goes in the coming months but was disappointed with voter turnout.
I was wondering where the other half of the voters were, Jefferson said.
