All 16 Osage Congressional candidates certified to appear on 2024 General Election ballot

Written By: Benny Polacca

(OSAGE RESERVATION) Sixteen Osage Nation members seeking Congressional office in the June 3 General Election are all certified to appear on the ballot after the Wahzhazhe Elections Board approved the candidate list. 

Read this story on Osage News here. 

The board met to certify the candidates on March 20 following postponement of the originally scheduled meeting two days earlier. Election Supervisor Alexis Rencountre presented the board with a chart noting the 16 candidates have no felonies or disqualifications following background checks by the Attorney General’s office. 

The candidate list presented by Rencountre also includes a column labeled “Term Limit” that notes the number of full four-year terms that the five current incumbents and two past-Congress members have served so far. The Election Office is now keeping track of candidates’ current and prior terms served following the 2020 Osage Constitution amendment passage that added term limits of five terms for Congress members.   

“That’s a good document to have and we do need to track those term limits now,” Board Chair Shannon Lockett told Rencountre as the board members reviewed it.  

In addition to the no felony mandate, other candidate certification requirements are: Congressional candidates must be at least 25 years old by Election Day; Not disqualified to hold or enjoy any office of honor, trust or profit in the Osage Nation by a judgment in a removal trial; and Has not served five full terms in that position, plus any initial partial term fulfilled as the result of a vacancy.  

“We just need a motion to certify the candidates as listed,” Rencountre said. 

Board member Belle Wilson motioned to certify the 2024 General Election candidates as listed. Lockett joined Wilson in voting to certify the list while Board Member Terry Hazen was absent that day. “And the motion carries and the candidate listing is certified,” Lockett announced. 

There are six of the 12 total Congressional seats opening in the 2024 General Election. 

The candidate certification list has the 16 individuals’ names as follows in the order of candidacy filing: Joe Tillman (two terms served), John Maker (three terms served), Jodie Revard (one term served), Traci Phillips, Billy Keene (one term served), Pam Shaw (one term served), William Kemble, Christa Fulkerson, Maria Whitehorn (two terms served), Angela Pratt (two terms served), Tina Allen, Liberty Metcalf, Patrick Cullen-Carroll, Alexis Martin, Brooklin Sweezy and Jacque Jones. 

Lockett also notes: “by certifying the candidates today, we’ve started the clock on candidate contests if anybody (that is an Osage voter) wants to contest any of the candidates eligibility to run.” 

Rencountre said the office must post the list of certified candidates that same day “and then the clock starts ticking tomorrow and it’s three business days and that will end the contest of candidacy.” 

The candidate name order on the General Election ballot is subject to a drawing for name placement that Election Office staff will conduct on March 28, which is the same day a mandated candidate workshop is scheduled in Pawhuska. Candidates’ names will appear on the ballot in the order they are drawn. The candidate workshop will cover forthcoming election information and mandates, including candidate campaign finance reports. 

For more information on the ON General Election and questions on absentee ballots, visit the Wahzhazhe Elections Office website at: https://www.osagenation-nsn.gov/services/elections or call toll-free (877) 560-5286.