An appeal has been filed with the Ta'an Kwach'an Judicial Council challenging the results of the first nation's Nov. 20 election for chief and deputy chief.

The action comes just days before both women are sworn into office tomorrow.

In a 12-page, Dec. 19 letter appealing the election, Barbara Hare, who lost her bid for deputy chief, argued there were numerous violations, issues and unanswered questions in the Nov. 20 election.

The letter was signed by 10 other members of the first nation and accompanied by 11 items (many of which were e-mails) supporting Hare's claims.

In last month's election, acting chief Ruth Massie defeated Bonnie Harpe for the position of chief by 27, taking 124 ballots compared to 97.

Gail Anderson was elected deputy chief, taking 130 votes in that battle compared to 65 votes for Hare and 26 for Dianne Graham.

In an interview Tuesday, Hare argued that Harpe's scrutineers were never told of where mail-in ballots were being counted prior to the counting.

When they were told where it was happening, they were locked out, Hare said. The nature of the votes in the mail-in ballots were unknown because not all scrutineers had the opportunity to see them, Hare said.

'We don't know because we never (saw) the mail-in ballots,' she said.

Even before the vote, there was one case of a Ta'an member, Hare's nephew, living Outside and not getting a ballot, even after he'd called to make sure he would be sent one.

That makes Hare wonder if there are other Ta'an members who weren't mailed a ballot.

Other issues, says the appeal, centre around friends and relatives of Massie's and Anderson's working on the elections committee.

'We just wanted a fair and balanced election. It doesn't seem it was going that way,' Hare said.

She would now like to see the Ta'an's judicial council return the election, though she's unsure how long it will take for a hearing and ruling to be made, given that Christmas holidays are around the corner.

November's vote came after a court order handed down last February that the election be held.

When Massie defeated Harpe for chief by two votes in 2003, a legal battle ensued, with Harpe also challanging Massie's appointment as the interim leader by the first nation's elders' council.

While Yukon Supreme Court Judge Ron Veale upheld the decision of the elders' council, he also ordered a new election to be held.

Reached by the Star Tuesday afternoon, Massie declined to comment on the appeal.