The vote was 1,931 to 1,013. Strickland compared the significance of the vote with the adoption of the U.S. Constitution. Supporters carried all three tribal precincts in Oklahoma and the absentee ballots from six other states. There are large numbers of Osage in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Texas and Kansas. They also feared a new, bloated bureaucracy and interference in the tribe's vast petroleum and mineral estate.
Energy companies pay royalties to drill on tribal land.
Under the 1906 federal Allotment Act, which organized the royalty payments, only the original 2,229 shareholders could vote in tribal elections, even on issues that have nothing to do with oil or gas drilling. The committee consisted of Osage council members, the Osage who sued and representatives of the federal Bureau of Indian Affairs.