The election that ended termination More than a hundred tribes were terminated by the United States â and not one after the Colville people voted against the idea Author: May 7, 2021 Chairman Rodney Cawston, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, stands in front of the Lucy Covington Government Center. Fifty years ago this week an election at Colville, led by Covington, ended the federal policy of termination. (Photo courtesy of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation) More than a hundred tribes were terminated by the United States â and not one after the Colville people voted against the idea Mark Trahant Fifty years ago this week the federal government’s experiment with termination was crushed at the ballot box on the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation in Washington state.