[Lamplighter]

CNN
By John Stremlau
The Carter Center
October 19, 2011

Black Cherokees exercise hard-won right to vote

<snip>
Simmering beneath the election process all along has been the crucial issue
of voting rights for the former slaves known in the tribe as Freedmen,
who are Cherokee citizens of African origin and who have had to fight in the courts to be able to vote.
<snip>
But what made this election far more significant than a contest
for political power and wealth was the voting rights of the Freedmen.
<snip>
[The Carter Center deemed the Sept 24th election] ...
to be transparent and an accurate reflection of the will of the Cherokee people,
including the Freedmen. ...
The elections commission declared Bill John Baker the winner in an election.

Another source writes...

The principal chief, similar to a U.S. president, administers a $600 million annual tribal budget,
has veto power and sets the tribe's national agenda.
The chief also oversees the tribe's casinos, health care facilities and thousands of the nation's employees.

But the defeated incumbent wasn't done...

[Former Principal Chief Chad] Smith filed the appeal Monday,
asking the tribal court to prevent Baker from being sworn into office
until a federal court decided whether descendants of slaves
once owned by tribal members, known as freedmen, are Cherokee citizens.
<snip>
Hours after Smith's appeal was denied,
Baker was sworn in as the tribe's Principal Chief Wednesday night.

A ceremonial inauguration is planned for Nov. 6 in Tahlequah, OK.

A long battle pitting one group against another may be over.

A federal court has yet to decide the "citizenship" of the Freedmen,
but it is likely the decision will be in favor of the Freedmen,
based on the original wording of the Treaty signed between the
Cherokee Nation and the US Government at the end of the Civil War.

The representative of The Carter Center said:
The Cherokee election is significant because the vote was credible,
and more important, for the rejection of ethnic nationalism
as a route to democratic development.