After winning reelection by just six votes, Lyndreth Wall was sworn in Friday for a third term as councilman for the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe.
“I'm not here to play. I'm here to do what needs to be done,” Wall, 57, said at the ceremony. “I want to be a team member, a team leader, with people that are going to make a difference.”
Leland Collins, who is running unopposed in District D to take over Wall’s spot on the Montezuma-Cortez RE-1 Board of Education, and Anthony Bancroft ran against Wall.
The election was held Oct. 16. After the initial count, Wall was ahead of Collins and Bancroft by a vote of 98 to 94 and 26, respectively, according to results provided by the Ute Mountain Election Board. Given Wall’s small margin of victory, a recount was held on Oct. 24, which certified Wall as the winner.
In the final tally, Wall had 109 votes, while Collins had 103 and Bancroft had 30. For Wall, the results were a reminder that collaboration is the most important job of a tribal councilman.
“We always need to improve our relationships with our members,” he told The Journal in a phone interview after Friday’s ceremony. “I want to make sure that our policies are prominent and move forward.”
Other leaders also highlighted the need to share the tribe’s accomplishments more broadly.
“We need to tell our story,” said Chairman Manuel Heart. “From boarding school, to water, to economic development; the three Ute tribes are leading tribes in this country in all areas.”
For Wall, It wasn’t just the margin of victory that was noteworthy in the recent election. In total, just 242 ballots were counted, not counting those deemed invalid, just 14.23% of the tribe’s over 1,700 eligible voters, according to Wall.
“We have a lot of voters out there and it didn’t really show,” he said.
The tribe will seek to make changes to the election process before votes are cast next October, according to Heart, including potentially switching to a preliminary runoff system.
While Wall won reelection to the council, he lost the position of secretary to Darwin Whiteman Jr. by a vote of 4-3. Alston Turtle was elected as treasurer, while Selwyn Whiteskunk was appointed vice chairman.
