Downloadable Documents:

• Get-Out-The-Native-Vote!
• Election Protection: Protecting the Right To Vote
• Voter Engagement At A Glance

Get-Out-The-Native-Vote!

The emphasis is on participation, not partisanship.  In nonpartisan GOTNV efforts we invite organizations and individuals to come out on behalf of democracy itself.  We ask people to vote “for themselves” at the same time they cast their ballot for a candidate.

Nonpartisan GOTNV is celebratory, fun, engaging and inspiring.  Organizers should pay attention to culture and use it to feel good about voting and helping others to vote.  Invite local drummers, dancers, and artists to share their talents.  Always serve a meal!

Nonpartisan GOTNV builds community spirit.  It is young and old working together, joining together to make our communities stronger.

Nonpartisan GOTV is focused on protecting the right to vote.  It is uncompromising in its commitment to ensuring that every person who is eligible to vote is able to vote.

GOTNV Activities!

1. Direct Voter Contact

Having direct contact with voters is the most important use of your resources.  You should develop a plan to contact voters in your contacted areas using any of the following tactics that are best suited for your community.  Remember to keep good lists of folks.

Door knocks: Door-to door canvassing is the most effective way of reminding people to vote, especially on Election Day.  While it is not as efficient as phoning, it allows the campaign to make one last personalized contact before Election Day and reminds people to vote.  You should concentrate on low voter turnout areas.

Phone calls: The most common, and most effective, forms of getting people to the polls is through phone banking.  GOTNV should encourage targeted voters to vote, provide basic voting information on such things as poll locations and hours, offer rides, and ask supporters to bring others to vote.

Targeted Mail: Targeted mail plays an important role in the overall GOTNV effort.  It reinforces the importance of voting and reminds people to vote.  Targeted mail should also have the polling location on it and the hours the polls are open; it should publicize your campaign’s phone number for people to call if they need help.  Make sure you are careful to send the mail so it all hits no later that the day before the election.

Literature Drops: Simply dropping literature without a conversation is not as effective as a door knock.  If you are simply going to do a lit drop, schedule it for the weekend before the election and reserve Election Day for door knocking. 

Visibilities/Rallies: One fun way to energize volunteers and voters is to do visibility, starting as early as the Thursday before the election.  Visibility (human billboards) should be done in the morning and evening rush hours in high traffic areas.  Large stationary signs also work well in reservation communities where tribal members gather (i.e. community centers, tribal headquarters, clinics, etc.)  Another good visibility strategy is a GOTNV rally.

2. Early Voting

Some states allow people to vote at the county courthouse or other sites as many as 30 days before Election Day.  You need to know the laws and plan accordingly.

3. Voting By Absentee Ballot

If you or someone you know will be unable to make it to the polls for either the primary election or general election, you can still make your voice heard.  Absentee ballots are not an Election Day project.  An effective absentee ballot program must target potential voters and get them absentee ballots well before Election Day.  This is particularly important when working with elders who may have limited mobility and community members that live a large distance from their polling place.  Some states have lax rules on absentee voting that should be taken advantage of.  Research the law in your state to see if and absentee ballot program is feasible and what options there are for voting by mail.

4. Giving Rides to the Polls on Election Day

Bringing someone directly to the polls is the best way to ensure that they vote.  You should have someone who is specifically in charge of transportation to the polls.  It is important to remember that you cannot hand out campaign

 

Election Protection: Protecting the Right to Vote

Education of Individuals or Groups:
Knowing who can vote, how to vote, where to vote, when to vote and why voting is important is critical information, especially for those who are not participating in the political process.  Native Vote in your community can play an important role in getting this information to our people.

Pay particular attention to community members who have special barriers to voting: people with disabilities, second language speakers, people experiencing homelessness, victims of abuse, ex-felons and those who are very transient.  Some of the best work in recent years has been done to address the needs of these constituencies.  For example, great work has been done  to preserve the confidentiality of victims of domestic violence when they register to vote, to help homeless individuals find ways to establish residency, to help those with disabilities know they rights and to help individuals who served time and are off paper to re-establish their right to vote.  Public education, combined with organizing with our community members can really make a difference in protecting the voters in Indian Country.

Voting Rights Hotline:
Native Vote is part of the Election Protection Coalition that was established to protect the rights of citizens across the country.  They have established at hotline to respond to voter questions and concerns 1-866-OUR-VOTE.  This hotline is used to help identify problems before they arise, answer voters’ questions and serve to be a “crisis line” in the event of Election Day problems.

Training of Citizen Advocates and Legal Experts:
Widespread training of citizen advocates will help to keep our elections fair and clean.  With training, ordinary citizens become the “eyes and ears” of democracy, watching for problems at the polls, assisting other voters and reporting irregularities if they arise.  Election law is not complicated, but it is essential that advocates know the rules and hold election officials accountable.  A simple training program can give people the knowledge they need to advocates at the polls.  Training is absolutely essential if people are to do poll monitoring or poll watching.  The rules for such activity vary by locality and must be understood.  Native Vote has developed election protection training and curriculum for Indian Country.

In addition to training citizen advocates, it is also important to create well-training legal team and lawyers, law students and para-professional who have particular knowledge of Indian Country and election law.  Native Vote has established such a legal team to staff the voting rights hotline, to be deployed as necessary to problem precincts, to communicate with local election officials and to document any irregularities.  Please contact Native Vote if you would like to assist with our election protection efforts.

Data Collection:
If irregularities to occur, it is essential that problems be well documented.  This includes names and full contact information on those whose rights may have been violated, thorough descriptions of the incidents, and names and contact information of the witnesses.  This information should then be forwarded to whichever governmental bodies are responsible for guaranteeing the election.  If in the case of some states, the problem resides in the bodies themselves, then it is essential to report the incident to independent legal entities whose role is to guarantee civil rights of citizens.

For more information on Native Vote’s election protection efforts, please contact Director or Governmental Affairs, Heather Dawn Thompson at (202) 466-7727 or hthompson@ncai.org.

 

Voter Engagement: At a Glance

Voter Registration:
To exercise their right to vote, citizens must register with local election officials.  In most states, people must register in advance, in some states there is the opportunity for “same day voter registration”.  Nonpartisan voter registration is simply registering eligible citizens without connecting it to any candidate or political party.  American Indians and Alaska Natives often don’t register to vote because they don’t know how, they don’t think they can, or simply forget.  We can organize large-scale voter registration drives in our tribal communities, dramatically increasing the number of people eligible to vote on Election Day.

Voter Education:
Elected Officials make decisions every day that affect the lives of Native people.  However, many of our tribal members our disconnected from politics and don’t understand how the problems in our every day lives – threats to tribal sovereignty, lack of quality healthcare, poor education, and more -  are related to the issues at stake in an election.  We can conduct voter education campaigns to get the word out in Indian Country about the issues and empower Native people to carry that information with them to the voting booth.

Candidate Education:
Tribes, nonprofit organizations, and the agencies that serve Native people, are experts in the issues that we work on every day.  We see first hand how policies and issues affect our people. We can educate candidates and elected officials about the issues that matter to us as American Indian and Alaska Native people.

Election Protection:
Unfortunately, it is often necessary to defend the right to vote.  To protect their own political agendas, some people and organizations seek to prevent Native people from voting and participating in the political process.  We can work to make sure that legal and civic resources are available so that every vote is counted in Indian Country.

Get-Out-The-Native-Vote:
As Native people, we do an amazing job of registering our people to vote.  We need to ensure that all of the voters that we worked so hard to register end up going to the polls on Election Day.  It is important not only to remind our people to vote, but also to provide them with the voting information and transportation to the polls if necessary.  We want remove as many barriers to political participation as possible.  We can create plans in each tribal community to fulfill these roles to ensure that the voices of Native people are heard on Election Day!