Historic Inaugural Vote for Shinnecocks Sees Election of First Female Leaders

The Shinnecock Indian Nation's inaugural election for the new Council of Trustees on Tuesday included the historic election of the first female leaders.

Nichol Banks and Lucille Bosley will serve along with five men, Sachem Eugene E. Cuffee II, Daniel Collins Sr., Bryan Polite, Taobi Silva, and Bradden Smith, Sr. Bosley will serve as Sunksqua, the female sachem.

This was the Shinnecock Indian Nation's first election under its first constitution, which was voted into place on Feb. 26, 2013.

The three-member Board of Trustees, which had been in effect since 1792, has been replaced by a seven-member Council of Trustees. The council includes two tribal elders, a Sachem and a Sunksqua, who are required to be more than 55 years old.

No voting figures were provided in a statement from the Shinnecock Indian Nation. 27East reported 165 people voted out of 383 eligible voting members.

Collins, Silva, and Smith previously served as Tribal Trustees.

27East also reported that under the newly instituted Constitution the election committee prohibited former tribal trustees who had been removed from office from running for the new Council. Lance Gumbs and Gordell Wright were ousted in 2012.

Future elections will be held on the first Tuesday in April, with the next election happening in 2015.

Cuffee ran unopposed for Sachem. Bosley ran against Michelle A. Johnson for Sunksqua. Aside from Banks, Polite, Silva, Smith, and Collins, two others ran for trustee — Donna Collins Smith and Judith A. Trotman.