Kiowa Election Commission

The Kiowa Election Commission would like to welcome you to our page. As you may have heard, the Kiowa Tribe unveiled a new constitution April 17, 2017. Since that time, the newly appointed Kiowa Election Commission (KEC) has been hard at work carrying out the first two years of elections while simultaneously rewriting and updating the Kiowa Election Ordinance to modern standards; a document that was written by our elder leaders decades ago. 

We would like all members of the Kiowa Tribe to know that the KEC is made up of individuals who care deeply about the tribe’s direction and are dedicated to carrying out fair, impartial and non-partisan Kiowa Tribal elections in an honest and transparent manner.

These elections can include those members running for tribal office through Primary, General or Special Elections, as well as budget and resolution questions. 

Thus far, we’ve found that mail-in or absentee ballots seem to be the most effective and financially sensible way to reach the most members of the Kiowa Tribe rather than the more costly polling place elections that come with a much higher cost per vote and lower voter turnout. While we have had successful polling place elections and may continue to need to do so at times in the future, we’ve had the highest number of ballots cast in any Kiowa elections in history in the past two years with the mail-in ballot format. 

We would like to continue to encourage all Kiowa adults to submit and maintain their most current address and to engage in the election process of our tribe. While we acknowledge that a certain percentage of our members do not wish to participate in their tribal elections, know that no member will be turned away so long as they are a verified adult member and have a valid government-issued ID. 

In order to visualize where our Kiowa Adult members reside, the KEC has completed a mapping project that shows where our members live superimposed on our traditional lands with important historical landmarks included for 1) the entire U.S. 2) Oklahoma and 3) the KCA Reservation Area. Please feel free to download them and review them at your leisure. You will find them here in electronic format on our page below as well as large 3’x 4’ poster copies at the Kiowa Tribal Complex in Carnegie.

On behalf of the Kiowa Election Commission, I welcome you to be a part of the future of our tribe by reviewing the issues and voting as often as possible. We will continue welcome feedback and honor our pledge to carry out elections with untiring diligence and the utmost integrity. Aho! 

 Yours Very Sincerely and Respectfully ,

James R. Kennedye MD, MPH (KEC Vice-Chairman / Member: Kiowa Black Leggings