Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor

June 24, 2019

I have been reading and rereading a letter that I received from The Saint Regis Mohawk Election Board dated June 12, 2019 stating that my letter which they received June 12, 2019 appealing for a Special Election missed the deadline for submitting appeals to call for a Special Election on the grounds of procedural irregularities for the 2019 Tribal Election. The deadline was June 7, 2019. Their letter went on to state “As this deadline has expired, the Election Board will not proceed with reviewing your submission at this time.”

I then reviewed my letter to them. Nowhere did I use the word “appeal”. My letter was submitted as a witness to crimes that were committed against our “law” of TCR-2019-03 which was signed by all three current chiefs and became law January 16, 2019. I “demanded” that the election be declared null and void due to these crimes. The Election Board chose to reply using words that suited their needs such as appeal, deadline, Special Election.

I stated that I was a witness to irregularities (aka crimes) and the Election Board basically told me too late, too bad. I guess that means the Election Board is above our laws. Wonder how many of our laws (such as referendums and TCRs) we are allowed to ignore when we want?

Ruth Bell