Wisconsin tribal communities make final push to get out the Native American vote

Tribal leaders and organizers in Wisconsin are making a final push to get Native Americans to the polls, just days before an election where key races could come down to a few thousand votes.

They have been working for months to boost turnout among Native people, who in some places have low voter participation, but who, in enough numbers, could make a difference in a close election.

The organizers – part of Wisconsin Native Vote, an initiative of Wisconsin Conservation Voices – have sent thousands of postcards with reminders to vote, knocked on doors, chatted with voters at powwows, held get-out-the-vote rallies and handed out yard signs.

They have done it from a distinct cultural lens, their messages tailored to a Native audience. The yard signs, for instance, incorporate a bit of slang used in tribal communities. “Sko den,” slang for “Let’s go then,” was changed to “Sko Vote Den.”

“We’re not just voting for ourselves. Our ancestors voted for us, now it’s our turn,” said Anne Egan-Waukau, an organizer with Native Vote based in Milwaukee. “We have thousands and thousands of Natives in Milwaukee.”

It’s hard to say how engaged Native Americans are in the voting process, especially those living in urban areas or places where they do not make up the majority. The Wisconsin Elections Commission does not keep any information on voters’ race or ethnicity.

But in at least some tribal communities, voter participation is relatively low when compared to the rest of the state.

Wisconsin had record-breaking turnout in 2020, with about 73% of the voting-age population casting a ballot, according to data from the Wisconsin Elections Commission. But in Menominee County, where four of every five people identify as Native, only about 55% of adults voted – the lowest turnout rate of any county in the state, according to census figures and election data.

Having said that, 1,590 people voted in the county in 2020, almost 300 more people than in the prior presidential election. Organizers hope to build on those kinds of gains.

“Wisconsin is going to depend on the Native vote,” said OJ Semans, co-executive director of Four Directions, a South Dakota-based organization that helped put on a town hall last month in Madison encouraging Native people to vote. “It’s going to be hundreds, if not a few thousand, votes that is going to decide who’s in the Senate, who’s your governor, who goes to Congress,” he told Madison attendees.

Barriers, mistrust of government keep Natives from voting

Native Americans did not win citizenship until 1924, and even then, some state governments denied them the right to vote for decades longer, in some cases until the 1950s or 1960s, according to a report by the American Civil Liberties Union.

Today, cultural and systemic barriers continue to play a role, according to a 2020 report by the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), a legal organization that works to protect tribal interests.

Dallin Maybee, who spoke on behalf of the Native American Rights Fund at last month’s town hall in Madison, said he was led to believe as a teen and into adulthood that his vote didn’t matter and that his participation in the voting process would be “an act of colonization.”

“But I was lied to. I was deceived,” he said. “Political participation is one of the best acts of individual sovereignty that we have.”

Organizers with Native Vote have worked to break down some of those barriers, including by engaging voters in conversations, mailing out information about voting and partnering with tribal governments to try to arrange transportation to polling sites.

With Native Vote’s help, the Ho-Chunk Nation sent about 4,200 postcards to tribal members living in Wisconsin last week, spokesman Casey Brown said. Thousands more went out to members of Menominee, the Oneida Nation and other tribes, said Erin Bloodgood, spokesperson for Native Vote.

The postcards tell people what to bring to the polls and instruct them how to find their polling place and ballot information. It also includes a number for a voter protection hotline.

To Brown’s knowledge, it was the first time the Ho-Chunk Nation sent its members voting information in a statewide mailing campaign.

“I’m pretty proud of that,” he said.

The Ho-Chunk Nation also plans to work with Native Vote to help transport voters to the polls. The tribe, headquartered in Black River Falls, does not have an established reservation. Its members are scattered across the state, including in pockets of eastern and central Wisconsin.

“We’ve got lots of elders that want to get out there but might need a ride, or maybe they’re in a more remote area and they need a little help getting to the polls,” Brown said.

Natives more likely to be turned away

Transportation was identified as one of several barriers to voting, especially for tribal members living in rural areas, in the 2020 NARF report on obstacles to voting. The report’s findings were based on comments gathered during public hearings across the country, including in Milwaukee.

The report also found that tribal IDs are not always recognized as valid forms of photo ID at polling sites, even though they are accepted in Wisconsin.

A separate report by the League of Women Voters of Wisconsin also identified requirements to give proof of residence when registering to vote as a major obstacle for Native Americans. In 2018, the league sent poll watchers to nearly 400 polling sites across the state, including eight sites that serve tribal communities.

They reported 244 people turned away because they did not have the right documents to prove their residence. People were more likely to be turned away at sites serving tribal communities than other sites, the report says. For some without documentation, they lived in a group setting and did not have their name on a lease or any utility bills. Others received all their mail at a P.O. Box, which cannot be used as a residence when registering to vote.

Anjali Bhasin, civic engagement director at Wisconsin Conservation Voices, said it’s also important to make Native voters feel comfortable at the polls.

“There’s often tension between the Native community and the neighboring community,” she said. “People don’t always want to go vote because there’s hostility.”

Semans, of Four Directions, urged people not to be intimidated or dissuaded from voting. He encouraged anyone who encounters problems at the polls to call a voter protection hotline or seek other help.

Shannon Holsey, president of the Stockbridge-Munsee Community, about 60 miles northwest of Green Bay, also spoke at last month's town hall in Madison.

"I always say to people, 'Vote like your life depends on it, because it might,'" she said.

Frank Vaisvilas, a reporter with the Green Bay Press-Gazette staff, contributed to this report.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Wisconsin tribal leaders make final push to get Native Americans to vote