Nika Bartoo-Smith
Underscore Native News + ICT
As the country gears up for midterm elections in November, concerns about mail-in-voting echo across the Pacific Northwest, particularly in Washington state, with issues such as ballots being rejected for late postmarks.
As tribal leaders and state officials gathered for the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians annual convention in mid-September, the resounding message was for people to vote early and find a ballot drop box to hand deliver your ballot.
“With the way the postal service is being manipulated, we probably should just stay out of that the best we can and vote early, and let people know that they’re going to be safe because that’s the intent, to suppress the vote,” Leonard Forsman, Suquamish Tribe, and ATNI president. “But just want to get that message out there that people should just continue to remember to get out and vote.”
In Oregon and Washington, both vote-by-mail states, an increasing number of ballots have been rejected for late postmarks after changes to the U.S. Postal Service policy. That means postmark dates may not indicate the day mail was received, but when it was processed. Processing centers are likely to be located far from rural communities which would delay the postmark date.
In August, Washington state filed a lawsuit against the U.S. Postal Service to block changes proposed by President Donald Trump that would impact mail-in-voting this November. Earlier in the month, the U.S. Supreme Court denied Trump’s request to carry out the new rule which would have included states being required to turn in lists of voters’ names and addresses.
Washington Secretary of State Steve Hobbs also shared that there is funding to place extra dropboxes in counties across the state.
Julie Johnson, Lummi Nation, co-chair of the Native Vote committee at the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, urged communities to reach out about getting dropboxes on reservations and other rural parts of the state. Johnson is also the chair of the Native American Caucus of the Washington State Democrats.
Currently, there is at least one drop box on every reservation across Washington state. However, for some of the bigger reservations, like Colville and Yakama, Johnson urges tribal leaders to reach out to the Secretary of State’s office to request another ballot dropbox. Here is a list of all drop boxes across the state.
“We’ve encouraged the Secretary of State to place more drop boxes on those reservations because of their distance,” Johnson said. “We’re just encouraging everyone to use drop boxes.”
Conversations at the annual ATNI convention also centered on registering more Native voters.
Across the country, there are 1.8 million eligible Native voters who have not registered, according to Temryss Lane, Lummi Nation, with Native Civic Power Initiative.
“We’re working together to build civic power across Indian Country. That’s Native Civic Power Initiative’s goal,” Lane said, talking about goals to increase Native voter turnout. “We work to bring people together and activate and amplify the power that already exists within our communities to strengthen the political and civic participation across Indian country.”
Lane shared some of the resources at Native Civic Power Initiative, including a “Protect the Vote: Voter Registration Toolkit.”
In Washington, the 18-day voting period begins Oct. 16 and in Oregon ballots are mailed out Oct. 14.
This story is co-published by Underscore Native News and ICT, a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Pacific Northwest.
The post Tribal leaders message for mail-in voting: vote early, hand deliver to ballot drop box appeared first on ICT.
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