The Southern Ute Indian Tribe held its General Election on Friday, Nov. 3 in Ignacio, Colo., offices up for reelection include: the Tribal Chairman, and two seats on Tribal Council.

Following the confirmation of votes in council chambers on Monday, Nov. 6, both will go into a runoff election to be held Friday, Dec. 15.

Vying for Chairman in Friday’s General Election were candidates: Shelly L. Thompson, Shane Seibel, Tyson Thompson, Ula R. Gregory, Howard D. Richards Sr. and Christine Baker Sage. Thompson vacated his seat on the Southern Ute Tribal Council earlier this year in order to run for Chairman.

Shane Seibel and Christine Baker Sage came out of Friday’s election on top for the Chairman’s seat, they will both be on December’s runoff election ballot. Seibel received 136 votes to Sage’s 115 in the General Election.

Candidates who ran for seats on Tribal Council in the recent election include: Amy J. Barry, Yvonne Tree-Davis, Matthew J. Box, Cheryl A. Frost, Dedra White, and Cedric J. Chavez. Next months runoff election will also determine who will assume positions on the Southern Ute Tribal Council; candidates who received the most votes in Friday’s election will be on the December ballot including: Barry (152 votes), Frost (166 votes), White (178 votes) and Chavez (187 votes).

There were 992 registered voters, and 1,340 total votes caste in Friday’s General Election.

Following the certification of votes on Monday, the Chairman of the Southern Ute Indian Tribe, Clement J. Frost addressed the election board and those candidates present, “Congratulations to those candidates — good luck to all of you.”