Beginning Monday, October 26, 75 drivers will fan out across the lands of Red Lake Nation, Leech Lake Band of Ojibwe, and White Earth Nation. They will actually knock on doors and ask people if they need a ride to the polls. Drivers hope to bus 20 to 50 voters per day to Auditors offices right up to election day. America’s Indigenous Peoples will be heard in 2020.
The leadership team of the voter registration drive are Bret Healy, Consultant to Four Directions; Mike Simkins, Coordinator (RL, LL, WE); and Red Lake Supervisors Tori Lussier and Doreen Wells, and the help of son John.
Background: Voter Suppression of Indigenous American Peoples
In Minnesota, Four Directions engaged Tribal leaders and local governments across three Indian reservations in six counties to open satellite voting offices for inperson absentee voting.
With the Four Directions approach, Native voters can swing elections, accumulate power, and take their rightful place in the political landscape, thus protecting our treaties, Tribal sovereignty, and way of life.
Times have changed since we went to war to fight for our way of life, our treaties, and our Tribal sovereignty. We now protect our communities and our rights by going to the polls to vote.
Four Directions has leveraged strong relationships with Tribes in Nevada, Arizona, Montana, North Carolina, Minnesota, North Dakota, and South Dakota to make a critical difference in close federal elections. Four Directions has also partnered with preeminent organizations, including the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, the American Civil Liberties Union Voting Rights Project, and the National Congress of American Indians, to extend equal access to the ballot box across Indian Country.
We give special recognition to the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, which has consistently supported the advancement of Native voting rights for all Tribes. If not for the participation of the Shakopee Mdewakanton Sioux Community, none of this would have happened.
Source: Red Lake Nation News; 10/26/20
