2014: Topline Results for South Dakota Native GOTV Effort in 2014
Voter turnout around the United States declined from 2010 (the last non-presidential election) to 2014, and South Dakota was no different. In South Dakota, votes cast in 2014 declined 13% or more from 2010 levels – except in the nine counties in South Dakota with 50 percent or more Native population.
In a testament to the Four Directions approach, Native voter turnout actually increased in four of our target counties, and the remaining five declined by less than the statewide average. In fact, six of the top ten counties in voter performance were Native counties.
The chart below compares 2014 to 2010 on actual votes cast and lists the South Dakota counties with the strongest turnout.
Another important way to evaluate the 2014 effort is to compare turnout to 2002 (the year U.S. Senator Tim Johnson was saved by the Native vote), adjust for total statewide votes cast in South Dakota, and evaluate Oglala Lakota (formerly Shannon) County and Todd County data as a percentage of the total electorate.
SD Native Voter Turnout by County: 2010 versus 2014
| Rank | County | 2010 Turnout | 2014 Turnout | Percent | Tribe |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Todd | 2,016 | 2,234 | 111% | Rosebud |
| 2 | Oglala Lakota | 2,628 | 2,843 | 108% | Oglala |
| 3 | Corson | 889 | 950 | 107% | Standing Rock |
| 4 | Buffalo | 456 | 468 | 103% | Crow Creek |
| 7 | Jackson | 970 | 928 | 96% | Oglala |
| 9 | Dewey | 1,602 | 1,512 | 94% | Cheyenne River |
| 16 | Mellette | 766 | 704 | 92% | Rosebud |
| 17 | Ziebach | 704 | 647 | 92% | Cheyenne River |
| 30 | Bennett | 1,071 | 946 | 88% | Oglala |
| Statewide: | 323,410 | 282,291 | 87% | ||
SD Native Voter Turnout as a Percent of Statewide Turnout: 2002 versus 2014
| County | 2002 % | 2014 % | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Oglala County | .93 | 1.01 | 109% |
| Todd County | .74 | .79 | 106% |
| Statewide: | 340,047 | 282,291 |
In short, even with all of the myriad challenges we faced in 2014, Native voters made up a bigger percentage of the South Dakota electorate in 2014 than in the storied 2002 re-election of U.S. Senator Tim Johnson (by 524 votes). This is astonishing given that in 2002, the effort to organize in Indian Country began in March of that year while the 2014 effort did not begin until three weeks before the election.
