By AP
Tahlequah, OK – Cherokees miss election pact deadline
TULSA, Okla. (AP) The Cherokee Nation missed its deadlines to inform the descendants of black slaves once owned by tribal members that they could vote in an ongoing tribal election and to send absentee ballots to some of them.
Attorneys for both sides are back before U.S. District Judge Henry H. Kennedy to decide what to do for the remainder of the election. Last week, Kennedy signed a court order between the Cherokee Nation, U.S. government and the freedmen that guaranteed the slaves' descendants, known as freedmen, full citizenship in the nation.
Susan Plumb, the chairwoman of the Cherokee Nation Election Commission, said a mechanical problem during printing delayed the mailing and that all of the letters were sent by Thursday.
The election began Saturday and ends Oct. 8.