PRESQUE ISLE – In its biennial election last week, the Aroostook Band of Micmacs voted in Chief William W. Phillips and Vice Chief Steven Phillips for an unprecedented fourth term, but 61 petitioners have contested the election.

Tribal clerk Julia Miller said Monday petitioners submitted a document on Thursday contesting the election, though she declined to comment on the nature or the details of their contention. She did say that tribal elections have been contested in the past.

Miller said the matter has been forwarded to the Bureau of Indian Affairs because the tribe cannot deal with the matter internally. If the bureau turns down the petition, the election results will stand – unless tribal members take further local action. If the petition is found to have validity, Miller said the tribe may have to hold another election.

She expects to hear back from the bureau on the petition in the next few days.

Officials hope to have the matter wrapped up shortly as the new tribal administration is expected to be in place by next month.

If the election results stand, Chief Phillips and Vice Chief Phillips will be sworn in with the nine tribal councilors who also were elected last week. They include: Blanche Jewell, Wesley Miller, Victoria Higgins, Don Silliboy, Fred Getchell, Mary Sanipass, Sheila McCormack, Katie Espling and Cheryl Smart.

The administration will oversee issues that affect the tribe’s 920 members. The Aroostook Band of Micmacs, which is based in Presque Isle, achieved federal recognition in November 1991 with the passage of the Aroostook Band of Micmacs Settlement Act. The act provides the band with acknowledgment of its tribal status in the United States.

Chief Phillips won the contested election, in which about 200 tribal members voted, by a 70-vote margin. He has served three terms as the tribe’s chief.

Vice Chief Phillips, who is William Phillips’ uncle, has served three terms as the tribe’s vice chief.

“To me, the community spoke loud and clear and I don’t see where we should go any further than this,” William Phillips said Monday.

Phillips said the tribal clerk certified last week that the election was conducted cleanly and fairly. The chief said he had not read the petition as of Monday afternoon, but he indicated that the document would have to show there was a fault in the election process to be considered invalid.

“We feel there was no wrongdoing done by anybody,” he said.

Whether this elected administration or another is sworn in, the tribal members will be dealing in the next two years primarily on issues of sovereignty, water rights, hunting and fishing rights and economic development, according to tribal officials.