Same-sex marriage issue to appear on Osage Nation election ballot

PAWHUSKA — Osage Nation voters are heading to the polls Monday to consider allowing their judicial branch to issue marriage licenses to gay and lesbian couples.

In one of two questions on the ballot, voters will be asked to amend the definition of marriage as listed in Osage Nation’s legal code.

As the section currently stands, the code defines marriage as a “personal relation between a man and a woman.” If the measure passes, the definition would instead read “a personal relation between two persons.”

The tribe’s legislature approved a law in 2016 to allow its judiciary to recognize same-sex marriages conducted in other jurisdictions, such as the state of Oklahoma.

However, language that would have allowed Osage courts to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples was removed.

Early walk-in voting will be available Friday from noon to 8 p.m. and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. at the Osage Nation Election Board office at 608 Kihekah Ave.

The lone in-person Election Day polling place, the Wah Zha Zhe Cultural Center at 1449 W Main St., will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on Monday.

As of Monday, 1,070 absentee ballots, or about half of all requested, had been returned to the Osage Nation Election Board’s post office box.

By comparison, 1,032 absentee ballots were returned for the tribe’s June midterm election.

The tribe has about 15,000 eligible registered voters.

As sovereign entities, only a handful of tribes nationwide conduct or recognize same-sex marriages, including the Cherokee Nation.

In December, the Tahlequah-based tribe’s attorney general declared a 2004 law limiting marriage to heterosexual couples to be unconstitutional. However, the Cherokee Nation Tribal Council has a committee hearing scheduled for Tuesday morning to consider referring the issue to voters.