President Calvin Coolidge poses with unidentified tribal leaders after signing the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. It was supposed to ensure all Indians had the right to vote, but it took several court cases over the next 46 years to make it stick. Efforts to suppress the Indian vote have continued up to the present day.
Five minutes before I posted this, 6,062 of you had contributed $71,730 for
South Dakota NDN Election Efforts. And the thanks you get? We've raised the goal from $75,000 to $100,000. The money will help pay for the enthusiastic voter registration campaign being run by the
Great Plains Get Out the Native Vote on the state's nine American Indian reservations. South Dakota's registration deadline is Monday, Oct. 20. Voters can cast ballots the same day they register, which will make the get-out-the-vote effort that will continue right through Election Day just a little bit easier.
In addition, $68,713 has been raised for Rick Weiland, the progressive Democrat running for the U.S. Senate in a three-way contest that includes right-wing independent and former Republican Larry Pressler and an even more right-wing Republican, Mike Rounds. This race looked nearly hopeless a few months ago. Now it is a race. But winning means getting a good turnout. The final margin could very easily hang on a few hundred votes. And those votes could very well come from the reservations where Democrats significantly outnumber Republicans. In 2002, Democrat Tim Johnson won a squeaker (with a margin of 527 votes) in his Senate race against Republican John Thune. He couldn't have done it without the Indian vote.
Getting more Indians to the polls this year is why South Dakota State Rep. Kevin Killer, an Oglala-Kiowa who lives on the Pine Ridge Reservation, is working so hard on the project. And it's why Daily Kos is urging everyone to chip in $3 for the project and another $3 for Rick Weiland.
On the second day of the Great Plains get-out-the-vote campaign, Killer reported that more than 100 people voted early at Pine Ridge and they had run out of ballots.
State Rep. Kevin Killer
He said this is impressive given that it's an off-year election. Another key activist in the project is Dustina Gill, a Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate who lives on the Lake Traverse Reservation. She told Daily Kos via text:
Trish Quilt, Lower Brule GOTV coordinator.
The three tribes we've been to are so relieved to know there are resources to help them GOTV. Their auditor offices are so far away from their reservation! I can see why their vote turnout is so low.
Because of such [...] long distance and limited resources and even jobs, voting seems to be a luxury they cannot all afford to do. Fifty dollars in gas or $50 toward a light bill or propane.
Having on the ground people to do this for their reservations and districts is so inspiring to them.
Little community things are nice to see. The [Fort] Thompson hotel seems to be the gathering hub in the morning. Good place to get info out. The chairwoman begins each day by smudging [ritual burning of sage and herbs]. She said it keeps the balance and reminds us why we do what we do. So much heart and concern for her people and their future. She knows how important the vote is and had no resources to give for it.
Three bucks to have a progressive senator from South Dakota? Another three bucks for those fighting hard to bring out the Native American vote?
You can find more commentary and photographs below the fold.
Strategists for the Great Plains Get Out the Native Vote project met Monday in Pierre, South Dakota, to figure out their next move. Chase Iron Eyes, sitting on the left at the table in the green shirt, moderated.
Since passage of the
Snyder Act, the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, Indians have had the right to vote for 90 years. But
getting that right enforced has not been easy. Some states continued to block Indians from voting with the same tricks they used against blacks in the Jim Crow South—poll taxes, literacy tests and intimidation. It wasn't until 1948 that the courts forced Arizona and New Mexico to stop barring Indians living on reservations and in pueblos from voting. It took until 1970 before Indians on the two Ute reservations of Colorado were allowed to vote in state elections.
Even in the twenty-first century, there have been attempts to keep Indians from voting by failing to provide enough reservation-connected polling stations, by barring the use of tribal IDs to vote and by maintaining at-large districts that dilute the Indian vote and make it extremely difficult for Indians to get elected even in counties where they have a large proportion of the voting-age population. South Dakota has a long history of such voter suppression.
The National Congress of American Indians had a goal of registering a million new Indian voters in 2012. But the plan was profoundly underfunded and registration efforts fell far short of the goal.
People are widely dispersed on most South Dakota reservations and getting them to the polls can be as tough as getting them to register in the first place. As you can see from the map, the Great Plains project activists have a lot of traveling to do in the next few days before the registration deadline Monday.
All that travel is being done in a minibus they have nicknamed the "War Pony."
Killer describes the impetus behind the project:
Back of the "War Pony," the mobile headquarters
of the Great Plains Get Out the Native Vote project
As GOTV efforts occur in this election, the Oceti Sakowin (Seven Council Fires) will be uniquely positioned to help influence the US Senate race. Working on various political campaigns since 2004 has provided a unique perspective to say with the right amount of resources invested in the the right communities, there is an opportunity for Native Americans to make their voices heard and felt at the National level.
As we work with the Federal Government through our unique relationship established by the 1851 and 1868 Ft. Laramie Treaties it is important that we have Senators who understand and respect this partnership by working with tribes on a equal level. Leaders such as Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, Red Cloud, Inkpaduta have died to protect these rights for future generations.
Native communities in South Dakota are trending younger and by investing resources into this race, we are making an effort to protect the rights of future generations. Having been a candidate elected in part by the youth vote, I know firsthand of the potential this generation has and what is required to get them active.
Rick Weiland and supporters
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Here are some previous diaries about the involvement of Daily Kos in this project.
Here's how we're going to help win South Dakota by kos.
When Natives vote Democrats win. You can help 9 reservations in South Dakota GOTV to save the Senate by navajo
Going in big for South Dakota GOTV by kos
Here is the current fundraising status of the South Dakota NDN Election Efforts.