Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe sets in-person election date capecodtimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from capecodtimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
MASHPEE A tribal court judge ruled Thursday that mail-in voting is against the Mashpee Wampanoag Tribe s constitution and ordered that the upcoming general election be rescheduled so it can be held in person.
Amanda L. WhiteEagle, Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal Alternate District Court Judge, wrote in her order granting the plaintiffs’ preliminary injunction that the planned March 26 election using mail-in voting and/or voting by ballot drop box because of the pandemic would violate the tribe’s constitution.
“The Constitution is the supreme law, and ordinances are to be consistent with the constitutional letter and spirit,” WhiteEagle said in the order.
The Mashpee Wampanoag Tribal District Court ruled on Thursday last week, March 11, that the mail-in voting election procedures put in place for the tribal elections scheduled for later this month violate the tribeâs constitution.
The lawsuit by Aaron Tobey Jr., who is a tribal council member and candidate in the four-way race for the position of chairman of the tribal council, disputed the constitutionality of an emergency tribal ordinance passed earlier this year. The emergency ordinance cited the COVID-19 pandemic and scheduled the election for March 26 with mail-in voting only.
âThe election as currently contemplated will violate the constitution,â said Alternate District Court Judge Amanda L. WhiteEagle.