Potawatomis get off-rez vote

Potawatomis Vote To Establish Nationwide LegislatureApproval creates a 16-member CPN legislature. Half the members will be elected at-large from Oklahoma to represent their fellow Citizen Potawatomis in the state. The other eight members will each represent a legislative district outside Oklahoma. Tribal members in each district will elect the representative from their district.

CPN officials believe this is the first Indian tribe in the United States to extend such participation in tribal government to members who live outside the tribal jurisdiction, to say nothing of those who live anywhere in the United States.

The change in the Citizen Potawatomi Nation's basic form of government is designed to accomplish two goals--extend more input into their government's decisions to tribal members who live outside Oklahoma and take a major step toward a three-branch government with checks and balances.