Voting Turnout Effort Attracts Crowd In Wolf Point
A free meal and bingo attracted more than 125 people to a voter registration event organized by Western Native Voice at the Silverwolf Casino on Tuesday, July 23, but the goal remains to get those citizens to the polls on election day.
Lance FourStar, field manager for Western Native Voice on the Fort Peck Reservation, said that, when participants were asked, only 14 of the Native Americans voted in the recent primary election.
He feels part of the reason for the low voting turnout was that parties don’t endorse candidates during primary election and a heavy push wasn’t conducted to get the vote out.
“Everything is looking good. People want to be engaged in the election,” FourStar said during Tuesday’s event. “Our Native vote really needs to be recognized.”
Other officials for Western Native Voice include communications director Tracie Garfield, community organizer Miranda Kirk and community organizer Kara Guilez.
FourStar noted that voting turnout efforts in past years have included tabling at powwows and canvassing door to door.
“This is the first bingo we’ve done,” he said.
He added that Western Native Voice is a non-profit, non-partisan organization.
“We’re trying to get Natives to the polls regardless of what their party is,” FourStar said.
Efforts include going door to door with the hope of getting people registered for the Nov. 5 election.
“It takes quite awhile. People like to visit,” FourStar said.
He was pleased that 65 new voters signed up during Tuesday’s event.
“The majority of them are doing registration updates,” FourStar said of the turnout.
If people have voting problems, they should call Western Native Voice at 406-8691938.