Effort seeks to turn out Indian vote

NATIVE VOTE:Local Indian voter registration part of national drive.

BY STEVE KUCHERA

NEWS TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER


Like many people, Mike Sayers used to be an infrequent voter.

"A lot of people feel, 'I'm not going to vote because just one vote won't make a difference,"' said Sayers, the Duluth urban liaison for the Red Lake Ojibwe Band. "But you get 150,000 or 200,000 people saying the same thing and it can have a drastic effect on an election."

In an attempt to ensure that the American Indian voice is heard at the polls this year, Sayers is part of a nationwide effort to register and encourage Indians to vote. The National Congress of American Indians is helping coordinate the grassroots Native Vote 2004 campaign.

"It's absolutely important to increase American Indian voter turnout," said Cherie Ike, the group's Native Vote coordinator. "When you vote, your voice is heard."

The congress is modeling its registration efforts in part on earlier Indian voter registration drives in South Dakota.

http://www.duluthsuperior.com/mld/duluthsuperior/news/local/9591926.htm

Talking to one voter at a time, telling them, 'your vote is important, you will make a difference.'

Battle of Little Big Vote
Welcome to South Dakota, where Republicans tried to impose a poll tax
to suppress the Indian vote.

By Tara McKelvey

http://www.prospect.org/web/page.ww?section=root&name=ViewWeb&articleId=8412

A plastic sign outside a polling place in Andes Central High School on
the Yankton Sioux reservation was clear and concise. "Photo ID
required," it read.

The only problem, said Charon Asetoyer, executive director of the
Native American Women's Health Education Resource Center in Lake
Andes, South Dakota, was that the sign was illegal.

:eyes:

They've never stopped doing this kind of thing, but something tells me they are going to kick it up several notches in Nov. These bastards aren't going down without a fight and they are going to do everything possible to disenfranchise minorities. We have to watch them like hawks.

Native American voters have been courted (and feared) ever since 2002, when Democratic Senator Tim Johnson got 524 more votes than John Thune, who'd been handpicked by Karl Rove to run in the race. Indian voters turned out in unusually high numbers for the election and put Johnson in office. This year, Thune is taking on Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in one of the most closely watched Senate races in the country. Native American voters may again tip a close election. It's a prospect that has, says Tim Giago, former editor of the Rapid City newspaper Lakota Journal, "stirred up a little fear in the hearts of Republicans."

I hope they have democratic poll watchers in place, and lawyers on call on election day.

Hopefully the Native American voters have a taste of their own power after '92 and will turn out in even larger numbers this year.

Does anyone know what the legal penalty is for individuals who are caught intimidating/disenfranchising voters?

I read this story to my son at bed time and think about current events.

"A person is a person no matter how small"

If everybody shouts out "NO MORE" and votes (regardless of ethnicity), we can turn this around.

Patrick Kennedy was visiting a nearby reservation recently (a few days ago!). They actually covered it on the highly puke :puke: news here! It looked like he had a great reception! :D

Native Americans for Kerry/Edwards 2004!

:dem: :kick:

ONE VOTE PER PRECINCT!!

carried the whole state for the Blue team. think about your neighbors and decide which one you will "nurse maid" to the polls

ONE VOTE made English the language of government in the United States instead of German in 1776.
ONE VOTE saved President Andrew Johnson from impeachment in 1868.
ONE VOTE changed France from a monarchy to a republic in 1875.
An average of only ONE VOTE per precinct passed Women’s Suffrage in California in 1911.
The 19th Amendment to the Constitution, guaranteeing a woman’s right to vote, was ratified on August 26, 1920 due to the switch of ONE VOTE from a ‘no’ to a ‘yes.’
Several of our states, including California, Idaho, Oregon, Texas, and Washington, became states by just ONE VOTE.
In 1948, Lyndon B. Johnson, our 36th President, became a U.S. Senator by a ONE VOTE margin.
Harry S. Truman won the presidency by carrying California by less than ONE VOTE per district in 1948.
In the 1960 presidential election, ONE VOTE per precinct in Illinois, Missouri, New Jersey, and Texas made the difference that sent John F. Kennedy to the White House.
A change of ONE VOTE per precinct in three states in 1968 would have made Hubert Humphrey president instead of Richard Nixon.

:kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: :kick: