'They don't include Native voices': tribes fight to ensure their votes count

[Judi Lynn]

As the Native American population grows to the largest in modern history, groups say it’s vital that they organize to make sure they’re not left out of the redistricting process

Kira Lerner
Sat 2 Oct 2021 07.00 EDT

In a small unadorned conference room in the North Dakota state capitol, Collette Brown, a representative for the Spirit Lake Nation, stood up on 26 August to testify on behalf of the 7,559 members of her federally recognized tribe.

Speaking to a largely white, male Republican committee of lawmakers, she explained what Native American communities stand to lose with redistricting if the legislature decides to draw legislative boundaries that split Native American communities or create areas that have at-large representation, instead of single-member districts.

Brown had come “to demand that the North Dakota redistricting committee listen to tribal input and hold redistricting meetings and tribal consultations on reservations,” she said during the hearing. “The right to vote is a fundamental right in our democracy and Spirit Lake will vigorously defend that right of its members.”

Data from the 2020 census, released last month, show that the US Native American population grew by 27.1% over the last decade to the largest size in modern history. Still, advocates say that number represents an undercount because the census count had tight deadlines and reaching Native populations, many of whom live in remote rural areas, was difficult during the pandemic.

More:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/oct/02/native-americans-voting-rights-redistricting

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