A citizen's voter guide — not an official tribal publication

Sault Tribe Constitution Vote: Voter Clarifications

For citizens of the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians voting in the Secretarial Election on Proposed Amendment “A” — the proposed amended Constitution and Bylaws.

Your ballot must be RECEIVED by 3:00 p.m. EST, Thursday, November 19, 2026.

Received — not postmarked. If you have not mailed yours yet, mail it today, or hand-deliver it on November 19 only, between 8:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., at DreamMakers Theater, Kewadin Casino, Sault Ste. Marie. Counting begins at 4:00 p.m. Results may be challenged in writing by November 24 at 4:30 p.m. EST.

Clarification 1: The ballot is all-or-nothing

The ballot asks one question: accept all additions and changes in Proposed Amendment “A,” or reject them all. There is no way to vote for one part and against another. Official descriptions emphasize “three separate, co-equal branches of government,” but the document being voted on rewrites nearly the whole constitution — 14 articles plus bylaws. A YES vote adopts every item below, together:

Three branches of government: legislative, executive, judicial
Adding the Mackinac Band as one of the seven historical bands (Article III)
Removing the requirement that the Secretary of the Interior approve future constitutional changes (Article XIII)
A substantially expanded Bill of Rights (Article IV)
Elected judges — who can also be recalled by voters (Articles VI and IX)
A new sovereign immunity article, including rules for suing the tribe and its officials (Article XI)
New rules for elections, recalls, referendums, and future amendments (Articles IX, X, XII, XIII)

Clarification 2: What it takes to pass

A majority of the ballots cast must vote YES, and
At least 30% of registered voters must participate, and
The Secretary of the Interior must approve the result.

If it passes, the Board of Directors' Constitution Implementation Plan gives an 18-month transition to rewrite tribal laws to match. If it fails, the current constitution stays in force.

Clarification 3: The document, article by article, in plain language

Preamble

States the purpose: perpetuate Anishinaabe Bimaadziwin, provide for the welfare and prosperity of the People, protect property and resources, preserve inherent sovereignty under the teachings of the Seven Grandfathers.

Article I — Sovereignty

The citizens are the source of all governing authority. The constitution is the supreme law. The government may exercise only the powers the citizens grant in the constitution — and powers not granted are reserved to the citizenship.

Article II — Territory and Jurisdiction

Tribal territory is all lands owned by the tribe or held in trust. Jurisdiction extends over tribal lands, and for fishing, hunting, trapping and other usual rights of occupancy, to the lands and waters of the Treaty of March 28, 1836 and other treaties — in each case, as far as federal law allows.

Article III — Citizenship

Lists who is entitled to citizenship: persons with Indian blood, not enrolled in another tribe, who are U.S. citizens, and who descend from the seven historical bands — Grand Island, Point Iroquois, Sault Ste. Marie, Garden River, Sugar Island, Mackinac, and Drummond Island — plus persons on the Original Bands roll, adoptees, and lineal descendants. Section 2 gives the Tribal Council power to legislate future citizenship, loss of citizenship, and adoption. Note: “Indian blood” is required, but no amount or degree is specified anywhere in the document.

Article IV — Bill of Rights

Fourteen lettered protections, including: free exercise of religion and culture; speech, press, assembly, and petition; privacy of persons, homes, papers, electronic and telecommunications information, and vehicles, with warrants requiring probable cause, signed by a judge; Miranda-style warnings before custodial interrogation; no double jeopardy; speedy and public trial; counsel subject to income guidelines; jury trial — at least 6 jurors for misdemeanors, 12 for felonies; no excessive bail or cruel and unusual punishment; equal protection and due process (with a stated exception allowing employment preference laws); no laws targeting a specific person for prosecution, and no punishing conduct after the fact; the right to own, bear, and use arms; protection for employees against discharge without due process and against retaliation for reporting misconduct; and just compensation when the tribe takes private property. Note: some clauses protect “tribal citizens,” others protect “any person” — the coverage changes from clause to clause.

Article V — Separation of Powers

One legislative, one executive, and one judicial branch. No branch or official may exercise a power granted to another branch, except as the constitution expressly permits, and each branch is to act as a check and balance on the others.

Article VI — Judicial Branch

Two courts are written into the constitution itself: a Trial Court (Court of Gweyakwaadziwin) and a Supreme Court (Court of Nbwaakawin) with three justices, plus special courts the legislature may create. The Chief Judge, the Trial Court's Associate Judge, and the Chief Justice are elected by the citizens; the two Associate Justices are appointed by the Tribal Ogemaa and approved by the Tribal Council. If no qualified tribal citizen seeks a judicial seat, the Ogemaa appoints and the Council approves a judge instead of holding an election for that seat. Terms are six years, staggered. The Chief Judge and Chief Justice must be tribal citizens and licensed attorneys; Associate Justices must be Native American and of voting age, at least one a citizen, at least one an attorney. No one ever convicted of a felony may serve. Both courts may declare laws and executive actions void if inconsistent with the constitution. The Council sets judicial pay, but pay cannot be cut during a judge's term. Any party may file an appeal to the Supreme Court — but the Supreme Court may accept or deny any appeal. The Supreme Court has the final word on election disputes decided by the Election Commission.

Article VII — Legislative Branch

A 12-member Tribal Council, elected by the five voting units, four-year staggered terms, members at least 18, citizens, and residents of their unit for the prior year. The Council enacts all laws; approves contracts, land transactions, budgets, taxes, and lawsuits filed in the tribe's name; creates executive departments and business/gaming authorities; sets its own and the Ogemaa's compensation through the budget (stated to remain consistent with current Board/Chair levels); and holds the power to waive the tribe's sovereign immunity. Laws go to the Ogemaa for signature or veto. If no budget is approved by the start of the fiscal year, the government continues at the last approved budget levels. One category is carved out of the veto entirely: “internal and administrative actions” of the Council — a term the document never defines. The Council also selects a Speaker, who presides over meetings — and performs the duties of the Ogemaa in the Ogemaa's absence (Section 7(d)).

Article VIII — Executive Branch

Executive power is vested in the Tribal Ogemaa, elected tribe-wide for a four-year term. The Ogemaa enforces the laws, runs the administration, negotiates contracts (subject to Council approval), appoints authority members and key executives (subject to Council approval), appoints certain judges (subject to Council approval), collects taxes, and represents the tribe. The Ogemaa may veto resolutions, ordinances, laws, and budgets, with written reasons; the Council may override by two-thirds. The Ogemaa must keep the Council advised of the tribe's finances, with monthly reports to the Council and quarterly reports to the citizenship, and must present an annual State of the Tribe address.

Article IX — Resignation, Recall, Removal, Vacancies

Recall: voters may recall any elected official — including judges and justices — on a petition signed by at least 10% of the votes cast in the previous general election for that office. A recalled official cannot run again until their original term would have expired. Removal for cause: only for gross misconduct/malfeasance, or conviction of a felony or of fraud or violent crimes — through proceedings in Tribal Court under tribal law that has not been written yet (Article XIV gives six months to enact it). Vacancies are filled by special election within 30 to 90 days. If the Ogemaa's office falls vacant, the Speaker of the Council temporarily assumes the Ogemaa's duties until a successor is sworn in.

Article X — Nominations and Elections

The five voting units continue under their current boundaries. Every four years the Council is to take a census and voter registration of each unit and publish the results — but nothing in the document requires the 12 Council seats to be reapportioned among the units as populations change. Voters must be citizens 18 or older and vote in their unit of residence (voters living outside all units register and choose a unit). Current officeholders finish their terms; the first elections under the new constitution fill the seats as they open.

Article XI — Sovereign Immunity

The tribe has sovereign immunity. Nothing in the constitution waives it, except the Council may authorize a specific waiver by law, limited in scope and duration. The tribe, its officials, and its employees are immune from suit in their official capacity except as waived — with one standing exception: any citizen may sue in the tribal courts to enforce the terms of the constitution itself. Judges are immune for their official acts.

Article XII — Right of Referendum

Any enacted or proposed ordinance or resolution goes to a popular vote if a majority of the Council calls for it, or on a petition signed by at least 5% of the votes cast in the last Ogemaa general election. The referendum must be held within 60 days. A majority vote is binding — but only if the referendum's turnout rate equals the turnout rate of the last Ogemaa general election. A lower turnout voids the result, whatever the vote was.

Article XIII — Amendments

Future amendments can be proposed by a three-fourths vote of the Council, or by citizen petition signed by at least 5% of eligible voters (a much larger number than 5% of votes cast). An amendment passes with a majority of votes cast in a special election, a ballot return rate of at least 20%, and approval by a majority of the five voting units. No approval by the Secretary of the Interior is required for future amendments. An approved amendment takes effect immediately.

Article XIV — Adoption

This document takes effect if ratified in this Secretarial Election under the 30% participation rule and approved by the Secretary of the Interior. The Council then has 18 months to bring tribal laws into conformity — and 6 months to enact the Article IX resignation/recall/removal procedures. The document states no consequence if those deadlines are missed.

Bylaws

Council meetings are monthly, open to the citizenship, with at least one meeting per year in each unit; emergency meetings require 24 hours' notice and are limited to the urgent matter. Each council member must make public monthly reports to their unit. All tribal books, records, and financial accounts — including the tribal roll — are open to inspection by citizens on reasonable request, and the Council must pass disclosure laws within six months of ratification. A council member may not vote on a matter where the Council itself, by majority vote, determines the member has a personal interest.

Clarification 4: Checks that get stronger

A real judiciary. The courts would exist by constitution, not by laws the Council can rewrite, with stated power to void laws and executive actions that violate the constitution.
Judicial independence basics. Elected judges, six-year staggered terms, pay that cannot be cut mid-term.
The citizens as the source of power — and powers not granted to the government are reserved to the citizenship (Article I). That language can be used in court.
A larger Bill of Rights, including electronic privacy, whistleblower protection, and a ban on laws targeting individuals.
No shutdown leverage: government continues on the last approved budget if a new one stalls.
Paper trails: written veto reasons, quarterly financial reports to citizens, open meetings, monthly unit reports.
Citizen enforcement: any citizen may sue in tribal court to enforce the constitution (Article XI, Section 2).

Clarification 5: Read these twice before you vote

The Speaker clause. Article V forbids one branch from exercising another's powers. But the Speaker — a legislator — performs the Ogemaa's duties in his absence (Article VII, Section 7(d)) and becomes acting Ogemaa whenever the office is vacant (Article IX, Section 4). One person would sit in the legislature and run the executive at the same time.
The Council holds the courts' purse and rulebook. The Council sets judicial pay and receives the courts' budget requests — there is no guaranteed funding floor — and the Supreme Court's own court procedures are “subject to enactment by the Tribal Council” (Article VI, Section 6). Procedures, meaning the rules cases are heard under.
Judges can be recalled. Article IX allows recall of judges and justices at 10% of votes cast. A judge who rules against a popular majority can be removed by that majority. Decide whether that is accountability or pressure on the bench.
There is no guaranteed appeal. The Supreme Court “shall have the right to accept or deny any appeal” (Article VI, Section 6(b)).
The veto has an undefined escape hatch. “Internal and administrative actions” of the Council are exempt from the Ogemaa's veto, and the term is never defined. Also unanswered: if the Ogemaa neither signs nor vetoes within 10 days, does the law take effect? The document does not say.
The Council judges itself. Council pay is set by the Council's own budget; conflicts of interest are decided by the Council voting on its own members; the Council writes the election ordinance for its own re-elections.
The election referee is not in the constitution. The Election Commission verifies recall, referendum, and amendment petitions and decides election disputes — but who appoints it, and how it stays independent, is left to ordinances written by the Council.
The referendum turnout trap. A referendum binds only if its turnout equals the last general election's turnout (Article XII). Low turnout voids it even if the vote is unanimous.
Removal for cause is a shell. The grounds are narrow and the procedure is left to a law that does not exist yet, with no stated standard, prosecutor, or process.
The thresholds don't match. Recall uses 10% of votes cast; referendum petitions use 5% of votes cast; amendment petitions use 5% of eligible voters; adoption of this constitution uses 30% of those entitled to vote; future amendments use a 20% “return rate” plus a majority of the five units — so a majority of citizens can approve an amendment and still lose. Different yardsticks for similar citizen actions invite disputes.
No term limits. Nothing in the document limits how long anyone — Council member, Ogemaa, or judge — may serve.
Drafting slips. Article VI, Section 4(e) lists items “ii, iii, iv” with no “i”; two near-identical appointment clauses sit side by side in Article VI, Section 2; the transition section refers to “the current Tribal Ogemaa,” an office that does not exist unless this passes (the current office is Chairperson). Small errors — but this is the document that will govern every dispute about what the words mean.

Clarification 6: Questions to ask yourself

Am I voting for three-branch government — or for the entire rewritten constitution bundled with it, including the parts I have not read?
Do I want judges who can be recalled by petition between elections?
Am I comfortable that future constitutional amendments will no longer be reviewed or approved by the Secretary of the Interior?
Should the legislative branch control the courts' budgets and court rules?
If the parts I dislike cannot be separated from the parts I like, does the whole package still earn my YES?

Read the document yourself

Official election page (dates, how to vote, both constitutions): saulttribe.com/government/secretarial-election

Full text of Proposed Amendment “A” (PDF, the exact document on the ballot): Proposed Amended Constitution

Questions about the election itself: Secretarial Election Board Chairman Nicholas VanAlstine, 906-632-6809. This is a federal election administered by the Bureau of Indian Affairs — the tribe's board does not run it.