Surprise announcements from the current sitting board of Harmony Tribe, the organization that produces the Sacred Harvest Festival each year, of their withdrawal from running for board positions on next’s year’s board placed the October 16th election in jeopardy. The withdrawals resulted in most board positions having no one running for the seat and no way to fill those positions under current by-laws.

The organization’s by laws require nominees for the board to be a member in good standing for at least 6 months out of the last 2 years. Notification and absentee ballots were also to be sent out 14 days in advance of the election. With only seven days until the election and the limitations on nominee eligibility, it was doubtful Harmony Tribe could fill the open board positions.

Today the board and Tribe members met in an Open Meeting to address those election concerns. Several emergency measures were introduced and approved by the Tribe to address those issues.

The Tribe suspended all elections by-laws and policies for just this election cycle and created an election committee empowered to quickly create election guideline and run the election. The Election Committee is comprised of Michelle Hooker, Robin Kinney, Lynne Petros, Mary Oczak, and Carol (last name not used on request) The committee made arrangements to meet directly after the Open Meeting.

The election will still take place starting at 2pm on October 16that the Sacred Paths Center and nominations will be allowed right up until the vote takes place for that position. The eligibility requirements were also altered to allow any voting Harmony Tribe member to run for office as long as they are a paid voting member by tonight (October 9th) at 11:59PM. Absentee ballots will not be sent out to Tribe members, all votes must be cast in person or by phone during the allotted voting window on October 16th. Election Referees were also voted in. They are Michelle Hooker, Robin Kinney, and Lynn Petros.

The sitting board promised to work with the incoming board after the election to ensure a smooth transition.