PEMBROKE — The Lumbee Tribe Supreme Court ruled Friday that two of six polling sites targeted for closure by the tribal Elections Board are to remain open.

After a hearing in the Pembroke Boys and Girls Club gymnasium that lasted almost four hours, Chief Justice Joshua Malcom ruled that Hawkeye Sands Apartments, 5385 Red Springs Road in Red Springs, and Lumbee Heritage Elders Court, 16220 Lumbee Heritage Lane in Laurinburg, are to be reinstated as voting sites in the Nov. 13 tribal election.

Malcolm said the remaining four will be closed or consolidated with other locations. The chief justice also advised the Elections Board to use all forms of communication, including print and news media, to inform tribe members about the change. He also advised the board to invest in buying a digital recorder to document its meetings to ensure transparency and accurately document board meetings and other related business, which has not been done in the past.

Michael Chavis II, Lumbee Tribal Council District 12 representative, filed the petition against the initial decision. He claimed it disenfranchised voters in his district.

Tribal member Anita Hunt, who also filed a complaint about the closures, was happy with the ruling.

“I did what I did because the Lumbee Tribe Elections Board closed sites where our elders vote at in our election,” she said. “Our elderly should not have to drive 30 miles to vote.”

Matthew McNeill, an Elections Board member, said the initial decision was made because of past low voter turnout at the locations and the expense of keeping them open. The board members will do their best to comply with the court’s decision, he said.

“We will honor that decision and provide for our members in the best way possible,” McNeill said. “It’s always been about the people, not the Elections Board or the council; it’s about the people.”

Sharee Strickland, Elections Board chairperson, said she was angry with the court’s ruling. The board wasn’t given enough time to prepare, she said.

“I’m not happy,” she said. “I’m hurt. I had to take off work without pay to come here, and I don’t have it like that.”

If given at least a week to prepare for the court proceedings they would’ve been more prepared, Strickland said. She said tribal leaders don’t know how tough it is to prepare for elections and to get people to work the polls. Now the board will have to work fast to meet the court mandate.

“Where are we going to get the (voting) machines right now or the people?” she said in frustration. “We have to pay poll workers and getting poll workers to work is like pulling teeth.”

Sheila Beck, former Election Board chairperson, expressed concerns about why the Elections Board decided to close six voting locations. Beck, who is running for the Tribal Council’s District 9 seat, said even if the court had upheld the board’s closure decision there still would’ve been a high voter turnout.

“You have four people running for tribal chairman, best believe they’d be hauling in voters,” she said.

Lumbee Heritage Elders Court residents learned through a local newspaper about the closings and were not happy about the news.

Delois Clark, 82, testified Friday about how the change would affect her. She would have a hard time making it to the next nearest voter location, Clark said.

“I was so upset,” she said.

The ruling brought a smile to some of the 30 people watching the legal proceedings who has similar concerns.

Scotland County resident Katie Harris, 76, said she was happy with the court’s decision. Her district is often forgotten about by tribal leaders, she said.

Anyone interested in working the polls during the upcoming election as a judge or chief judge is asked to call the Lumbee Tribal Elections Board at 910-374-6290. Pay for working the polls on election day is $150 for working as judge and $200 for chief judge.

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David Pollard

Staff writer

Reach David Pollard by calling 708-257-8380 or via email at [email protected].