A Native American advocacy group is making a big push to get out the Indigenous vote in this year's elections.

It is hiring field organizers across the state and turning to technology. Western Native Voice calls its initiative "No Vote Left Behind in 2024." The group is hiring 14 part-time organizers, on reservations and in urban areas.

Sami Walking Bear, outreach and field director for Western Native Voice, said the group hires locally, so the organizers will be trusted members of Montana's seven tribal communities. She explained they will encourage people to exercise their right to vote, as historically, tribal voices have been underrepresented.

"We've never been promoted to use that voice in any schooling or upbringing," Walking Bear pointed out. "It's our civic duty to vote. It affects everything in our daily lives; policy, funding."

Registering to vote requires someone to have a physical address, and many places on tribal reservations do not have them. Western Native Voice is creating an app using online geographical location coordinates to create a physical address, in an effort to increase voter registration numbers.

The geolocation codes are the same ones used to create a so-called 911 address, which rescue crews use to respond to emergencies. Walking Bear pointed out codes will also allow people who are homeless to register to vote, because they will have a physical address. She added the geocodes will assist the communities in other ways.

"Eventually what we're hoping is that this data will be able to help the tribes finish their 911 mapping," Walking Bear emphasized. "(We will) assist in any other way we can with this data and the resources we have."

Between increasing "boots on the ground" in local communities and using the app, Western Native Voice hopes to turn out a record number of Montana's Indigenous voters in this year's elections.

A January report shows that in rural counties home to large numbers of American Indians, including in Montana, people are more likely to rely on Medicaid for health insurance across all age groups. About 23% of Montanans rely on Medicaid for their health coverage. But the four counties with the highest rates - roughly 40%- are all home to American Indian reservations. That's according to a report from the Georgetown Center for Children and Families on Medicaid's role in rural areas.

Joan Alker, executive director of the Georgetown Center for Children and Families, says that's a national pattern.

"This is important because if Congress moves ahead to make large cuts, these areas and Indian Country more generally will be in big trouble," she explained.

Alker added that documents leaked from the House Budget Committee show it's considering cuts to Medicaid between $200 -billion and $2.3 trillion. She added that the cuts are not a "foregone conclusion." This week, a Montana bill to start phasing out the state's Medicaid expansion was voted down by the Senate on Tuesday and a bill to remove the program's June sunset date passed the House on Monday.

Jason Smith, executive director of the Montana Consortium for Urban Indian Health, said Medicaid provides health coverage for individuals while being a critical source of revenue to the Urban Indian Organizations to help sustain their operations.

"I would say the UIOs, particularly, had a lot of revenue coming from Medicaid. So it's really a great secondary source of funding that has helped their organizations run and provide services for the communities," he contended.

As of January, more than 14,000 American Indians in Montana were enrolled in Medicaid expansion.


get more stories like this via email

Nevada's only sitting Indigenous legislator has introduced a bill to recognize Indigenous Peoples' Day on what she calls the "correct day," the second Monday in October.

Gov. Joe Lombardo issued a proclamation designating Aug. 9 as Indigenous Peoples' Day in Nevada.

Asm. Shea M. Backus, D-Las Vegas, said it does not pay Indigenous communities the recognition or respect they deserve. She explained Assembly Bill 144 would align both dates, as is celebrated across the nation.

"Indigenous Peoples Day isn't just about a day of recognition, it is about placing Indigenous voices at the forefront of decisions that shape the future of this state," Backus emphasized. "It is this deep cultural connection that has shaped the character of the state of Nevada, and should be celebrated."

Backus noted opponents of the bill see it as an attempt to remove Columbus Day, a federal holiday, from the books. She rejected the notion, pointing out the second Monday in October could instead be shared between both holidays.

Asm. Richard Delong, R-Reno, in the bill's first hearing on Tuesday, questioned the precedent the change of date could be setting for the state.

"Under state law, there are no overlaps," Delong pointed out. "This would be the first time that the state ever decides to have a period of observance that you have two of them coinciding on the same day. So in that sense, it is unique and different."

But backers of the bill aid banks and other establishments already recognize the October date both as Indigenous Peoples Day and Columbus Day, and see the bill as a formality to codify the joint recognition into law.

Noé Orosco, government affairs manager for the advocacy group Make the Road Nevada, said his organization supports the measure. He stressed Indigenous history and stories have been overlooked or distorted, and the bill is a way to help rectify it.

"This bill is not just a symbolic gesture, it is an opportunity for reflection and celebration," Orosco contended. "By formally recognizing Indigenous Peoples Day, we encourage a more complete and accurate understanding of our collective histories."


get more stories like this via email

Montana's 69th legislative session begins today and advocates for the state's Native population will be at the Capitol, tracking bills ranging from paid sick leave to Indian language and education.

Two key issues the Indigenous advocacy organization Western Native Voice will focus on this session are health care and voting access. A bill to ensure every reservation has a satellite voting office failed in 2021.

Keaton Sunchild, director of government and political relations for the organization, said the Native American Voting Rights Act will be brought again this year. He pointed out long distances and difficulty registering with tribal IDs are some of the biggest barriers Native Americans face in voting.

"For me, living in Great Falls, it's a five-minute drive at most to the elections office if something went wrong," observed. "For somebody living on the Fort Peck reservation, that could be a two-hour drive, one-way."

In 2024, Montana's Supreme Court ruled two voting bills were unconstitutional and disproportionately affected Native people. One would have ended Election Day registration and the second would have outlawed paid, third-party ballot assistance.

Sunchild noted health bills he will be tracking include requiring paid sick leave, the right to contraception and vitally, the status of Montana's Medicaid expansion, which is set to expire in June, unless lawmakers renew it.

"Making sure, at the end of the day, that Native communities and American Indians living off reservations are not harmed by any policies put in place," Sunchild emphasized.

The state's American Indian population has made up 20% of Medicaid expansion enrollment since 2016, according to the Montana Healthcare Foundation.