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Show NdYdjos Hord First Election GALLUP. N. M. Next month a little-known election affecting 80,-000 personi occurs in those parts of Arizona, New Mexico and Utah which make up the huge Navajo reservation. The election this year is unique In that it is the first time in history the big tribe has carried one out without government supervision. The new freedom is in line with the Indian bureau's decision to allow the Navajo free reign in handling his own affairs. An estimated 4d,000 tribesmen are eligible to vote next month. Representatives of 74 communities will be elected to the tribal council. This legislative body, not unlike Congress, meets four times a year at Window Rock, Ariz., in a massive stone council house, an eight-sided building modeled after the hogan, the traditional Navajo dwelling. The Navajos have come far in setting up their own democratic government from early beginnings with the gathering of "headmen" representing scattered bands of tribesmen to the present parliamentary group, operating under Robert's rules of order. I Only five years ago ballots sisted only of colored slips of paper, each color representing a candidate. However, that didn't work with color-blind voters, so, in 1931, the present pictorial ballot was adopted. Now the Navajos can identify their choice by passport-type photos of the candidates above the spaces where the vote is registered. |