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NATIVE VOICES, NATIVE VOTES

What a year for voter turnout in Wisconsin’s Native American communities! Thanks to a great team of staff and volunteers, new partnerships, and your support, Wisconsin Native Vote made a big splash in eight Native communities in 2018, helping to turnout record numbers of voters on Election Day and developing new leaders in Wisconsin’s tribal communities. Attempts by the legislature and Governor Walker to suppress voter turnout in recent years made our Native Vote program more important than ever. We focused heavily on educating people about how to register to vote, what voting laws had changed, and what forms of ID they needed to bring to the polls. During Native Vote 2018, we talked with thousands of voters about what motivates them to show up to the polls. We used social media to highlight dozens of community members who were committed to casting their vote on Election Day. And, we created a “buzz” about voting in Native communities, using social media, community events, “Vote for my Future” and “I Vote for the 7th Generation” signs, and even Native Vote-branded cookies. Social media and earned media were important tools for answering questions about voting and recruiting volunteers. Our Facebook reach during the last three weeks of the election was over 80,000, and during the course of the program, Facebook likes went up over 350%. Most importantly, Facebook became a “go to” place to get information about voting. One meme we posted with general information about voting was shared 45 times, including on several tribes’ official pages, by indigenous student groups, and by Native media. The week before Election Day, we knocked on almost 4,000 doors on eight reservations, entirely with volunteers from tribal communities! In Bad River, we knocked during trick or treating, a big event in the community, handing out Native Vote cookies, which made our interactions more fun and memorable. We also worked with partner groups like the ACLU and law students from the Great Lakes Indigenous Law Center at UW-Madison Law School to do election protection at polling places in Native communities. All that work paid off, with high voter turnout in Native communities across Wisconsin. In fact, in four of our key communities, voter turnout was between 76% and 85%! We couldn’t have done it without your support. Every voter we engaged, every leader we trained, and every person we educated all that we accomplished - happened because of you. Thank you for investing in Wisconsin Conservation Voices and in Native Vote!

“I loved helping citizens learn and understand voting processes, and it was great to see strong turnout for volunteers in our communities. It was also great to see that communities were excited to see their own members learning and getting out the vote and to see how many elders and veterans are proud and routine in exercising their rights and voices. This year the excitement of crossing barriers and creating change was felt in each community across Indian Country!” - Aurora Conley, First Nations Organizer

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Native Vote organizer Dee Sweet (center, bottom) and volunteers braved sleet and snow in Menominee to get out the vote.

UW-Madison law students Catelin Aiwohi and Lorenzo Gudino spent Election Day doing election protection in Keshena.

Gwayako-Biimaadiziwin, which means “a changed life” in English, knocked on doors in Lac Courte Oreilles to remind tribal members about the November elections.

Matt Dannenberg, Wisconsin Conservation Voices program director and Bad River tribal member, accepts a Kids Forward Giraffe Award for Native Vote alongside Angela Lange of Black Leaders Organizing for Communities (BLOC).

Social media was an important way to share valuable information about voter laws. This particular piece was shared 45 times on Facebook, including on several tribes’ pages, by indigenous student groups, and by members of the Native American media.