Members of the Three Affiliated Tribes will vote one more time on whether to change the definition for tribal membership.

A majority of tribal members voted Tuesday to call for a second Bureau of Indian Affairs' secretarial election on whether tribal membership should be based on blood or lineal descendency.

They said last year they wanted to make the change to lineal descendency, but there've been so many questions raised, the tribal council decided to ask if people wanted to learn more and vote again.

In the meantime, the tribal enrollment office is holding several hundred applications for membership based on being able to trace ancestry back to tribal enrollment in the '30s.

In other election news, incumbent councilman Frank White Calfe, of White Shield, will apparently return to the council, joined by newcomer Scott Eagle, of the New Town/Little Shell segment.

White Calfe beat challenger Fred Fox by a small margin of 196 to 194. Eagle beat Donna Morgan by a vote of 377 to 351.

A third council seat from the Mandaree segment will be filled in a special election Dec. 2, with Ted Lone Fight III and Arnold Strahs Sr. on the ballot out of a field of six.

Tuesday's general election served as a primary election for Mandaree because one of the candidates in the September primary was not a legal resident of the segment.

- Lauren Donovan