The Yomba Shoshone Tribe was cast to the wayside by Nye County Election Clerk Brian Kampf ahead of the 2022 midterm elections.
In July, months before the election, the tribe filed a request for a polling place on the reservation to facilitate fair and equal access to voting opportunities. Wayne Dyer, Chairman of the Yomba Shoshone Tribe, reached out to the county three times, once in August and twice in October, regarding this request.
Kampf denied the tribe’s request for a polling place in 2022, saying the tribe missed the August 1 deadline to request a polling place. He told the tribe to try again in 2023. This, despite the tribe’s many efforts to contact the county.
The Yomba Shoshone sought the help of Four Directions Native Vote, given its track record of successfully suing Nevada, as well as several of the state’s counties. Four Directions helped facilitate communications between the tribe, the county election clerk, and the county commissioner.
In the end, Nye County’s election clerk finally approved the tribe’s request on Friday, November 4, just four days before the election.
Bret Healy, a consultant for Four Directions, was personally thanked for the work the organization did to secure equal access to the ballot box.
“We’re just thankful that we got to participate. We’re grateful to Bret Healy and his team,” said Janet Weed, Yomba Shoshone Tribal Administrator. “They empowered us.”
What happened in Nye County was another instance in the almost century-long trend of infringing on Native Americans’ equal access to the ballot box since they secured the right to vote in 1924. The reservations Natives were forced onto after their original lands were taken are mostly in rural areas, and their access to the ballot box still suffers to this day.
Only 35% of households on reservations have a typical home mailing system, according to Taylor Patterson, executive director of Native Voters Alliance Nevada. Without such a system in place, Natives have to resort to using post office boxes, which are often great distances from where they live.
“If you don’t have a good car, a reliable vehicle or a telephone out there, you are really really barred from accessing just anything,” said Weed.
With a polling location created for the 2022 midterm elections, Nye County has taken one step toward establishing equal voting access for Native voters. Though discernable progress has been made, more work remains to be done if parity is to be achieved.
“We would hope that Nye County would do better next time, and do better without having somebody going in there and pushing them,” said Healy.
This victory in Nye County followed a historic settlement Four Directions helped negotiate between the Shoshone-Paiute Tribes of the Duck Valley Reservation and Elko County, NV. Click here to read more.
