Congratulations Chief Denson

From a Beaslely Denson press release:

With absentee ballots counted, Beasley Denson garnered 53% of the vote to become the next Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians (MBCI). Denson’s defeat of Phillip Martin, who was seeking his eighth term as Chief, comes after a heated campaign where Denson’s door-to-door, grassroots approach stood in stark relief to Martin’s avalanche of negative attack mail.

The certified vote tally was 1697 to 1486 in Denson’s favor. Of the one hundred and ninety four absentee ballots submitted, only ninety three were allowed because Tribal election code requires written, signed requests for absentee ballots. In his statement to the Tribal Election Commission before the counting of the absentee ballots began, Denson said “I trust you will uphold the election laws of our Tribe and make every effort to ensure the validity of the absentee ballots. We take seriously any indication of voting irregularity and expect you will do the same.”