In South Dakota’s Indian Country, getting to polls is half the struggle

[Algernon Moncrieff]

http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2014/11/2/in-south-dakota-sindiancountrygettingtopollsishalfthestruggle.html

Despite the challenges to access, Native voters have proved that they can be a critical voting bloc in South Dakota, where they constitute about 9 percent of the population, according to Census Bureau Statistics. In 2002, a strong showing among the tribes helped Sen. Tim Johnson, a Democrat who is retiring, eke out a slim 524-vote victory over his opponent, with ballots from neighboring Shannon County, where the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation is located, giving him his narrow margin of victory.

“He went to bed down a few hundred votes, and when he woke up, he had won by 524,” said Zach Crago, executive director of the South Dakota Democratic Party. “Folks understand what kind of impact [Native Americans] can have in Senate elections.”

This year, Democratic candidate Rick Weiland is hoping Native votes can make the difference for him in South Dakota’s unexpectedly competitive four-way Senate contest. As the only hopeful who opposes the Keystone XL pipeline — a hot-button issue among Native Americans, the majority of whom are adamantly against its construction — and the sole candidate who has aggressively courted votes on reservations, he’s been endorsed by all nine tribal nations in South Dakota.

But the challenge is translating that support into ballots.

“The Indian Country voter turnout model is a little bit different,” Crago said. “For the same reason that they’re hard to see in polls, they’re hard to reach for traditional get-out-the-vote efforts.”

[scarletwoman]

1. Many thanks for posting this! nt

[Algernon Moncrieff]

2. You are most welcome!