Northern Cheyenne Tribe elects five council members after year of turmoil
BIA acknowledges results; voters wrote in more than 100 names
Northern Cheyenne voters chose four new council members and one incumbent in Tuesday’s tribal election.
Nine people were certified to appear on the ballot, but voters wrote in more than 100 different names for the council’s five open seats. Some of those write-in-candidates included people who had removed the current council leadership in 2025 through what they argued was a tribal constitutional process. It ultimately failed. Former Northern Cheyenne President Gene Small, who led the charge that resulted in the tribe’s constitutional crisis, received four votes split between two different council districts.
It wasn’t the only loss for Small and his supporters on Election Day. A tribal appellate court denied his request to review a court opinion that led to him losing his power struggle with the council. Small held his own election yesterday at the Little Wolf Capitol Building in Lame Deer, posting results in the evening.
The Northern Cheyenne Election Board’s results are stamped with an acknowledgement of receipt from the Bureau of Indian Affairs Northern Cheyenne Agency. Small’s election results are not certified.
Small did not return a request for comment from Buffalo’s Fire about the election results or the BIA acknowledgement.All of this resulted in a day that Northern Cheyenne Tribe spokesperson Ryhal Rowland described as “crazy.”
In the end, voters chose new council members in three districts. In Ashland District, they elected Eugene Little Coyote, who in 2008 was arrested by the BIA when he refused to leave office after being ousted as Northern Cheyenne president. He received 232 votes. His closest opponent, Donna Fisher, received 218 votes. That district also saw 42 different names receive write-in votes, the most (47) going to Waylon Rogers.
In Lame Deer, Allen Joe Blackwolf won with 341 votes. He will sit on the council with newcomer Henry Speelman and incumbent Melissa Lonebear. Voters wrote in 55 different names as candidates.
Torrey Davie was the only certified name on the ballot for the Busby District and won the seat with 342 votes over 44 different write-in candidates.
The council meets this afternoon to certify the election results.
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