Navajo Nation committee votes to override president’s language requirement veto; full council vote next

The Navajo Nation Council’s Naa’bik’iyati’ Committee passed a resolution Wednesday 12-5 to override President Ben Shelley’s veto on changes to the language requirement in the Navajo Nation election code.

The veto must be overridden by a two-thirds vote of the full council.

Russell Begaye and Jonathan Nez will not be able to vote during the council’s vote, as they are currently on the presidential ballot. However, though they will be recused from the council vote, they will be considered voting members and raise the number of votes required for the two-thirds override.

The postponed presidential election has been tentatively rescheduled for Dec. 23.

The council is scheduled to meet in a special session on Thursday and Friday. The veto override measure was placed on the council’s agenda, according to a spokesperson for the Office of the Speaker. The spokesperson said the item is first on the agenda. The session is scheduled to start Thursday at 10 a.m.

There are also currently two vacant seats on the council, so paired with the inclusion of Begaye and Nez, the council would have 22 voting members. This means the council will need 15 votes to override the veto during the special session, three more than 12 votes garnered by the committee Wednesday.

The Speaker’s Office spokesperson said the office was unsure how a successful override of the veto would affect the election, and said the issue could go back to court.

The resolution to pass the amendment to the language requirements for office was passed Oct. 24 and vetoed by Shelley Oct. 28.

The Navajo Nation Supreme Court ruled Oct. 31 that presidential candidate Chris Deschene would not be on the original Nov. 4 election ballot and ruled that the Navajo Nation Board of Elections was in contempt of court for not following through with a previous Supreme Court decision to postpone elections and remove Deschene from the ballot.