The Cherokee Nation of Oklahoma has certified Bill John Baker as the winner of the principal chief's race.

The tribe's election commission conducted a recount of the ballots. Baker defeated incumbent Chad Smith by 266 votes.

“I truly want to thank everyone for praying, for supporting me, who made calls and knocked on doors,” Baker said after the election commission certified the results, The Tulsa World reported. “Now it’s about the business of running the nation.”

The certified results vary from the "unofficial" and "official" tallies that were released earlier this week. The unofficial count put Baker ahead by 11 votes while the official count gave Smith the win by 7 votes.

“Tonight’s recount totals are perplexing," Smith said in a statement. "The No. 1 question is how did I lose 262 votes while my opponent gained 11. We have not gotten an explanation from the Election Commission about these vanishing votes.”

Smith apparently intends to mount an appeal.

Get the Story:
Bill John Baker certified winner of Cherokee chief election (The Tulsa World 7/1)
Baker declared winner after ballots recounted (The Cherokee Phoenix 6/30)

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