Renewed Hope For Nickname Vote on Standing Rock Reservation

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Petition Drive on Standing Rock Reservation

There's a renewed effort to bring the "fighting Sioux" nickname to a vote on the Standing Rock Reservation.

Nickname supporters on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation started to circulate a petition today asking the tribal council to allow a reservation wide vote to gauge tribal support.

Up until now, the council has not allowed a vote, but this petition could change that.

8 people will spend the next seven days trying to get the nearly 600-votes it will take to make the petition valid.

Organizer Tom Iron says if they get the votes the council will have to allow a vote by the constitution. Iron says he's talked to the tribal chair and he's agreed to cooperate.

Iron says he will bring the petition before the state board if higher education at a February 18th meeting hoping they will give them more time if they need to to have the vote. Iron hopes the vote can happen in two weeks.

"The bill of rights of the Standing Rock tribal government gives a lot of power for the people to exercise their rights and that is really a good thing they understand this is a policy and we'll all have to adhere to it."

The board has indicated they may consider retiring the name at this months meeting if they don't get tribal approval. Iron hopes this petition would extend the timeline if that were to happen.

Tags: steve bodakowski, news, sioux, nickname