Navajo Vice-President Jonathan Nez, who came out on top of all the pre-election polls, had no problem coming in first in the Navajo Nation primary for tribal president Aug. 28.
He won more chapters than all of the other 17 candidates combined, getting 14,105 votes, according to the unofficial totals.
Coming in second was former Navajo Nation President Joe Shirley Jr., who received 6,947 votes, but the story there was that throughout most of the night, he was fighting to keep that second place as Tom Chee, the tribal council delegate from Shiprock, who challenged him throughout night, at times came within 150 votes.
Chee came in third place with 6,411 votes.
The tribe’s current president, Russell Begaye, came in fifth with 3,833 votes.
As far as voter participation went, the Tsaile/Wheatfields poll had the highest turnout with nearly 74 percent participation. Whippoorwill voters turned out least, with about 52 percent, or 307 ballots cast.
Nez and Shirley will now face each other in the November general election. This marks the fifth time Shirley has won for president, winning twice and losing twice.
NN Primary Unofficial Voter Turnout
Agency Summary |
Ballots Cast |
Registered Voters |
Voter Participation |
Chinle: 14 Poll(s) of 14 Have Reported |
7,406 |
12,092 |
61.25% |
Eastern: 31 Poll(s) of 31 Have Reported |
11,074 |
21,267 |
52.07% |
"Fort Defiance Agency: |
13,521 |
21,456 |
63.02% |
"Northern Agency Summary |
9,861 |
17,351 |
56.83% |
"Western Agency: |
8,750 |
15,841 |
55.24% |
|
50,612 |
88,007 |
|