This story is part of our Quick Hits series. This series will bring you breaking news and short updates from throughout the state.
The Eastern Shoshone Tribe's elected leadership is in flux after a recent contentious vote. The dispute is causing controversy and confusion.
At a special General Council meeting earlier this month, a quorum of tribal members voted to replace the entire six-person Eastern Shoshone Business Council. Some say that meeting and that vote were legitimate, but others disagree.
The tribe’s business council is an elected body tasked with overseeing tribal programs and facilitating General Council meetings. Enrolled tribal members ages 18 and up are able to bring agenda items to and vote in those General Council meetings, which require a 75-person quorum to pass resolutions and change policy.
The previously-elected business council briefly closed tribal offices on Jan. 12, two days after that meeting, stating that tribal offices would be closed until “the Non-Sanctioned Eastern Shoshone Council Meeting Actions are resolved through tribal court.”
“The Eastern Shoshone Business Council (ESBC) is shutting down the tribal offices effective on January 12th, 2026, until the Non-Sanctioned Eastern Shoshone Council Meeting Actions are resolved through tribal court,” stated the announcement, which was posted on the tribe’s official Facebook page on the evening of Jan. 10.
The tribe’s Facebook page is now currently down, as of at least Jan. 20. That’s the main place for sharing tribally-related public service announcements, news and events.
The majority of those offices have since re-opened, according to reporting from the Lander Journal.
The tribe’s official governmental website still lists the council members that were elected in 2024 through the more routine process. But one of the reportedly newly elected members shared a list of the six new “sworn in” councilmembers in an email with Wyoming Public Radio.
The discrepancy led commissioners in nearby Fremont County to consider holding off on working with the tribal government until there is more clarity about who is in charge, according to the Lander Journal.
Neither council has shared official comments with Wyoming Public Radio.
