New Election Board

There's been some buzzing about Tribal Council getting ready to appoint a new election board. I'm not expecting a new board to be appointed, with the exception of a possible replacement for Marie Smith, who is the only board member worth keeping.
The goal of the election board is the ensure not only that elections run smoothly, but that they're run fairly. The current election board did neither the past election in 2007.
This election board failed to report a break in to its offices after the 07 primary where Michell Hicks and Patrick Lambert were the top vote getters. Of those two, Lambert was the only one to question the election board's action. During a meeting with candidates, which Hicks decided to skip, to discuss the issues, the election board responded to understandable hostility from candidates with contempt. Board member Wanda Jackson, who was particularly rude, waived around the tribal election ordinance as though it were some kind of scripture.
Board members also dismissed the notion that it's possible to determine how voters cast a ballot despite requiring them to sign a list at the table, by a number, for which a corresponding number appears in the machine after depositing a ballot. They ignored reports about the faulty machines used to scan ballots, as well as reports that those machines are vulnerable to tampering and rigging and refused to concede the possibility that ballots may have been tampered with as well to matched the scanned tally.
The board also ignored reports that the company used to conduct the elections has been linked to botched elections in the Cherokee Nation, the Navajos and a number of other tribes as well.
They also were dismissive of poll workers letting voters cast ballots without a photo ID.
Then of course there was the inexcusable action in the Wolfetown general election where 60 voters names were misplaced from the records. Many of those voters decided not to cast ballots after being told to vote elsewhere. The margin of victory for those who prevailed in Wolfetown and the principal chief was less than the number of voters in Wolfetown who weren't allowed to cast ballots.
The board with an opportunity to fix the issues that arose during the last election chose not to address the problems in a new election ordinance. No provisional ballots for those affected by possible errors. No serious provisions to protect the anonymity of ballots cast and of course no provisions for recall elections. However the board did introduce more stringent requirements to hold referendums, which Tribal Council passed, and the chief gleefully signed. The current election board at best is incompetent. At worst it's biased and unethical. Since election board appointments will be made by the very officials who benefitted from a broken system, it's doubtful there will be any major change in the board, but there's no question that their constituents deserve better. Hopefully the majority of Council will see it that way.