Comanche Nation Swears In Seven Election Board Members
On Thursday, October 2, Comanche Nation Election Board Members were sworn in at Watchetaker Hall.
Marilyn Miller-Tiger, Roxie Yazzie, Michelle Addi, Joseph Atison Jr., Nicole Reyna, Sandra Chesnut and Seberiana Palmer were recently elected to be on the election board.
Miller-Tiger said she has always wanted to be on the board and has served on and off since the mid-1990s.
Her mother hosted the first Comanche Nation Chairman Leon Motah, who is her uncle, while he worked on the tribes constitution.
“I watched them come and gather at my parents' house, and my mother was very involved,” Miller-Tiger said. “She made sure that they had things comfortable, they could kick their shoes off, and they could relax before they went back to the BIA to continue with their constitution.”
She said it was the beginning of her time in the political arena.
“My mother always taught us that…we have to vote in order to get our voice heard. And that's one of the…reasons why I was interested,” Miller-Tiger said. “And so, I've been a voting member of state elections, national elections, tribal elections ever since I was old enough to vote when I was turned 18, and that's what motivated me. But the main thing is that I watched the elections, and I watched how people…became committee members and chairmen, and not just the Comanche tribe, but my dad was full-blooded Wichita. And he was active in the political arena of the Wichita tribe, but he was also a traditional man. And so, it was hard for me to see how they both interacted, because your traditions, and then your politicians, and your political activity, how they intertwined with each other, but they did, and it made me wonder, ‘What could I do? What part can I have in this as I got older?’”
She later found herself bonding with a cousin on the election board.
“And I would see her get ready, and I would see her in meetings, and she would be dressed, and she would sit there, and they'd have these papers in front of them,” Miller-Tiger said. “At the time, they were constitutions, and the ordinances, the bylaws, and I didn't know that, but when I asked her about it, and she told me about it, and I wanted to look at it, and she let me. And so, that one day, I told my mother, I said, ‘Mother, I want to be a member of the election board. ‘What should I do? ‘How should I do that?’ She said, ‘Come on, let's go, let's take a trip over there to my niece's house.’”
According to her, Miller-Tiger’s cousin said that being on the board requires dedication, integrity, and impartiality. There’s also a lot of ethics involved.
“She told me, she said, ‘Now here's what you need to do,’ and so she told me, ‘You know, go over there and get a copy of the constitution, get a copy of the ordinance, and anything else you can pick up and read them. All the bylaws, read them, read them, and memorize them. Know them frontwards and forwards, and you'll be able to turn into articles, article one, section two, all that. You need to know that. You need to memorize it,” she said. “And so, I did, and I became a member of the election board.”
Miller-Tiger said she worked with several chairmen of the board and learned a lot from them. She said the Comanche tribe has good, caring, and knowledgeable people; however, varying opinions are okay because everyone has a different mind.