November 6, 2012 is national Election Day and the Native Vote campaign launched a national grassroots media campaign to spread the message that Every Native Vote Counts!
One of the most anticipated days this November is the national Election Day on November 6, 2012. As citizens of both the United States and their respective tribal communities, Native voters – American Indians and Alaska Natives – participate in voting and express their voice, and their vote, in tribal, national, state, and local elections.
National Election Day (Tuesday, Nov. 6) and Veterans Day (Sunday, Nov. 11 – this year the federal holiday will be observed on Monday, Nov. 12) are important days on their own, but also serve as especially important parts of Native American Heritage Month because each illustrates the important voice and place Native peoples have in North American culture, politics, and within the American family of governments.
Students from Salish Kootenai College, Pablo, Montana promote the Native Vote. The video is a recent piece by the Native entertainment group the 1491’s. In the description of the video the 1491s encourage Native people to “USE YOUR VOICE!”
Tribal nations are America’s first governments and American Indians and Alaska Natives played a key role in inspiring and establishing American democracy. Yet as citizens of the United States, the rightful place of tribal citizens at the ballot box has all too often been denied. While still one of most under-registered group of voters in the United States, heightened political participation in Indian Country has proven recently that the Native Vote is an increasingly powerful group of voters. In recent years, the Native Vote has been publicly acknowledged as making a difference in national, state, and local elections.
That’s why Native Vote, a nonpartisan campaign initiated by the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), encourages American Indian and Alaska Native people to exercise their right to vote and protect this right for all Native Americans. It is an important component of NCAI’s ongoing work to revitalize civic engagement in Native communities. Native voter participation has been a focus of NCAI’s work since the organization was established in 1944, at a time when Native people were citizens but many states still denied them the right to vote.
This year Native Vote has launched the “Every Native Vote Counts” campaign to mobilize the Native Vote. The campaign works with a network of grassroots organizers in tribal communities across the Nation to provide Native Voters with the tools, information, and motivation to make sure their voice count in this year’s election. The four main aspects of the campaign (Registration and Get Out the Vote, Election Protection, Education, and Data) all play an integral role in the campaign’s goal to turn out the largest Native Vote ever. Despite decades of voter disenfranchisement, and existing challenges such as voter ID laws, Native Voters will turn out in full force for the 2012 elections to illuminate and strengthen the voice of Indian Country.