With Election Day coming up on Nov. 3rd, the Native American Rights Fund is deploying volunteers to communities with high Native populations, including New Mexico, to support Native voters casting their ballots.
Over 300 attorneys, law students and volunteers will be poll watching in over eight states including Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nevada, New Mexico and Montana. In New Mexico, 31 volunteers will be outside 17 voting locations including Gallup, and To’hajiilee, as well as Acoma, Isleta, Laguna, and Zuni pueblos.
Allison Neswood, senior attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, said there are low participation rates for Native American voters and part of the reason is a historical distrust in the system.
“We weren't citizens until 1924, and even after that, a lot of states said, ‘Native people can't vote unless they abandon their tribal community and stop these uncivilized practices,’” she said.
There were also other things like literacy tests and poll taxes. Neswood said even though that’s in the past, Native voters still face barriers.
“Native people have to travel the farthest in order to vote in a lot of cases, or a lot of our communities don't have reliable mail service, and mail doesn't get delivered to our homes, so it's harder to use mail voting and mail registration,” she said. “Maybe internet service and access to technology is not as prevalent in our community, so you can't register to vote online. And then a lot of our homes don't have residential addresses, which you know affects the mail, but also affects your ability to register, right?”
Neswood said the volunteers are there to help navigate any challenges that may come up for Native voters.
“Really just being there for Indian country on election day,” she said. “I think you know all of these things just teach our people that this system wasn't built for them, and so we want to push back on that. We want our volunteers to show up and really be a message to our people that like the Native vote matters, and the Native vote is powerful, and just support our communities in that way.”
Volunteers will wear hats with the NARF logo for anyone that needs assistance at the polls.
The Native American Rights Fund encourages people who see voter intimidation to call and report it at 866-OUR-VOTE.
Support for this coverage comes from Thornburg Foundation.
