A total of 43 candidates have been certified to run for 17 offices up for election in the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians this year, nearly 20% fewer than the 53 candidates certified during the last chief’s election year in 2019. The final list contains some expected contenders and a scattering of surprises. 

Waynesville is Haywood County’s only municipal government that elects all of its members at once, but that will likely change — just in time for this year’s election.  

In January, Principal Chief Richard Sneed made the unusual move of nominating a man who is attempting to unseat him in the September 2023 tribal election for a position on one of the tribe’s most powerful commissions — but Robert Osley Saunooke has turned down the appointment.

As voting hours ended on Election Day 2020, talking heads waiting for results to roll in filled the TV airwaves with speculation based on the exit polling data before them. What might it mean for the final results, and for the future of the American presidency?

Leaders in a free republic should serve the common good. That’s why the U.S. system of government and our freedoms have captivated and inspired people around the world. Basically, we are proof that a free people can make the right choices and self-govern and, usually, do the right thing.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that Rob Saunooke is banned from practicing law on the Qualla Boundary. While Judge Sharon Barrett did issue a March 2018 ruling preventing him from practicing law on tribal lands unless specifically permitted by a court order, the Cherokee Supreme Court later vacated Barrett’s order.

With dozens of debunked allegations surrounding a “rigged” 2020 election still fresh on the minds of right-wing conspiracy theorists, Western North Carolina’s election administrators are welcoming unprecedented levels of scrutiny in advance of the 2022 General Election.

Bo Crowe, a fifth-term Tribal Council member representing Wolfetown and Big Y, has announced his intention to challenge Principal Chief Richard Sneed’s 2023 re-election bid.

A special election Thursday, Dec. 15, will seat new Tribal Council members to fill vacancies left by the death of Painttown Rep. Tommye Saunooke and the resignation of Wolfetown Rep. Bill Taylor, Tribal Council decided during Annual Council Monday, Oct. 24.

Western North Carolina’s last two Republican congressmen, Mark Meadows and Madison Cawthorn, have left behind them a combined decade-long legacy of deceit, inaction and possible criminal activity.