Protect Your Vote Messaging

The work of Native Civic Power Initiative (NCPI) exists, in part, to elevate the priorities of Indian Country and the ways voting influences the health and wellness of our communities.

This document is meant for Native civic organizers and Tribal Nations to use as a jumping-off point, focused on core messaging that Native civic leaders have identified as the most urgent and timely priority messages. You know your audiences best, so these are intended for your use and modification. Take and edit what works for you.

By speaking as a collective voice, through our respective channels and networks, we can increase our reach and have an even greater impact on the Native vote.

Audiences

The following messages are meant to be tailored to the following audiences in order to advance Native priorities.

• Eligible Native voters
• Tribal leaders & members
• Elected officials

Key Messages

Below are some of the key messages that you can organize your get out the vote communications around. Click on the message(s) below that resonate best with you and your audience to find additional supporting messages.

• The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act and put the Native vote at risk.
• The Native vote is in very real, immediate danger.
• Voting decides the health and future for all of Indian Country.
• Voters in Indian Country have the power to decide elections and influence policy.
• Protecting our sovereignty by taking civic action influences every aspect of Native life that matters for us now, and for all future generations.
• We must mobilize and educate Native voters about their rights.
• Know your rights as a voter.

The Supreme Court gutted the Voting Rights Act and put the Native vote at risk.

• The Supreme Court has given states more power to draw voter districts to tip the scales in favor of partisanship, even when there are racially discriminatory outcomes.
• After a series of cases weakening in the Voting Rights Act, this year in Callais v. Louisiana, the Court rigged the rules even further, making it harder to prove discriminatory intent, preferencing partisanship, and ignoring the disenfranchisement of minority communities. Now, Native voters have fewer protections than at any time since the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965.
• Essential civil rights protections have been eliminated and the rights of Indian Country voters are at stake.

The Native Vote is in very real, immediate danger.

• Said plainly: this is racism. Voter suppression in Indian Country is anti-Native racism doing what it has always done, keeping power from us.
  • The Native vote is being threatened because we are seen as dangerous. When we show up in record numbers and raise our voices together, we have the power to change policy, strengthen sovereignty, and decide elections.
• Racism against Native Peoples runs on erasure. Most Americans rarely or never see us in the media, and too many were taught we exist only in the past. A people made invisible is easier to undercount, redistrict, and legislate away.
• The Supreme court did not end racism– It ended our ability to name racism in court. States can now do racist things, offer a partisan excuse, and courts will look away. That makes naming it ourselves, out loud and in public, part of the work.
• Native voters have seen an increase in barriers to our ability to vote:
  • Delays in the postal service were made worse by severe budget cuts.
  • Distant voter services makes access to the polls harder and unfair: Native voters often have to travel farther and have fewer options to register and cast their ballot.

Voting decides the health and future for all of Indian Country.

• As Native peoples, we vote because we know that every action we take today impacts the generations to come.
• Talking about what matters to our communities is our way, it always has been.
• Cultural and natural resources, treaty rights, war, the economy, tribal sovereignty, education, healthcare, social security, and benefits for our elders and our most vulnerable relatives are all at stake in every election.
• How do we protect our lands that are being threatened? Natives vote. How do we stop continued violation of our human rights? Natives vote.
• These are ‘kitchen table’ issues. We already talk about them every day, over coffee, at gatherings, in the comments. Elections carry the conversations forward. In a good way– Indian Country is very activist.
• We don’t have the option of just sitting back and letting others make the decisions about the well-being of our communities.

Voters in Indian Country have the power to decide elections and influence policy.

• The power of the Native vote is undeniable.
  • In 2020, record numbers of Native voters turned out in key states and decided tight races in Arizona, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, South Dakota and Wisconsin.
  • In recent years, we have had more Native representation at all levels of government than ever before.
  • We may be a small percentage of state populations but when Natives vote we can have an outsized impact on elections.
  • In places like Alaska, Arizona, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Michigan, and Nevada, Native voters represent a population larger than recent statewide margins.
  • Our victories in Indian Country don’t come from sitting on the sidelines. We win on behalf of our people, lands, waters, and resources when we are engaged in American democracy.
• There is untapped power in Indian Country.
  • 1.2 million eligible Native voters who have not yet registered to vote.
  • And over the past six elections, nearly 600,000 registered Native voters did not vote.
  • Every one of those Native voters is someone’s cousin. Reaching them starts with a conversation, and we are good at those.
• With all that is at stake from our sacred places, to our ability to afford groceries and gas, to the health of our elders and children, we have to show up and take a stand.
• Native voters vote on all sides of political issues. Democrat, Republican, Independent, or otherwise affiliated – what matters is engaging on what is best for our communities.
• Native voters have swung elections for Republican candidates in states like Alaska and North Carolina, and have swung elections for Democratic candidates in states like Arizona and Nevada.
• Native voters deserve to have their votes campaigned for, fought over, and honored through policy changes that improve our communities, regardless of political party.

Protecting our sovereignty by taking civic action influences every aspect of Native life that matters for us now, and for all future generations.

• Our work doesn’t end after election day.
• Civic power looks like tribal council elections, community meetings, feeding people, language revitalization, and showing up for our relatives.
• Every day, elected officials in local, state, and national office, make decisions about our future.
  • We are leading the fight and organizing to protect Mother Earth and all of our relatives.
  • Our traditional ways of working together, to help one another, makes us a powerful force when we raise our voices and work together.
• Every day brings a new threat to our ways of life. We only win when we show up to make our voices heard.
• We are powerful when we stand together to demand that elected officials uphold their promises to Indian Country.

We must mobilize and educate Native voters about their rights.

• Our vote is at risk because Indian Country is a powerful force.
• We are facing real challenges to our rights to vote, but we are not powerless.
• An informed voter is a powerful voter.
• Make voting a family tradition. Bring your auntie, your cousins, your elders. We do everything else together, and voting works the same way.
• Now more than ever, it’s important to make a plan to vote TODAY.
  • Don’t wait until election day, make a plan today.
  • Know your registration deadlines.
  • Check your voter registration to see if you are eligible to vote.
  • In a vote by mail state? Make sure your address is up to date or arrange for where you can access a ballot.
  • Voting in-person?
    • Know where your nearest polling location is.
    • Find out whether you need ID. Does your state accept tribal ID?
    • Do you have transportation to your polling place?
      • Are there local organizations providing transportation if you need it?

Know your rights as a voter.

• If you are in a line to vote, stay in line, even after the official closing time. If you are in line before the polls close, you have the right to vote and your ballot must be accepted. You cannot be denied your right to vote if you are in line before the polls close.
• If you make a mistake on your ballot, ask for a new one.
• Poll workers unsure if you’re registered?
  • Don’t leave.
  • Ask to cast a “provisional ballot.”
  • Your registration will be checked to see if you’re eligible to vote. If you are, your vote will be counted.
• Voter intimidation is becoming more common but is still rare.
  • Threatening or harassing voters is a federal crime.
  • Report the behavior to the poll workers and give a sworn statement if possible.