In many states, the political landscape can be combative, disenfranchising, and even hostile. In South Dakota, though, one group is looking to reach voters who may have more power than previously thought.
COUP, or the Communities Organizing for Unified Power, has announced its latest effort to register and mobilize indigenous voters through the He Sapa Voters Project.
Natalie Stites Means is the COUP executive director.
“We’re a nonpartisan group – we don’t work with either political party – we’re solely interested in more Native Americans registering to vote," Stites Means said. "We feel like Native Americans are the future of South Dakota, we’re the majority-minority, and it’s been demonstrated our voting rights are definitely inhibited by the conditions we’re facing here.”
Advocates say conditions like long drives to polling locations, few if any satellite polling locations, and a lack of public transit options on reservations contribute to an already well-established wariness of government on reservations.
Stites Means said it’s not all about Washington D.C., though.
“What we’re really interested in is our local, state, city elections," Stites Means said. "We have seen really small margins put people in office, and we want to help galvanize our community to care about these civic issues and public policy issues that are creating these conditions where we are disenfranchised and disempowered.”
For Stites Means, that means taking a hard look at economic development in reservation country.
“Particularly in South Dakota, half of (Native Americans) live at or below the federal poverty rate," Stites Means said. "In contrast, the white population at least in 2020 – only 8 percent of them lived below the federal poverty rate. Voting is a social determinate of health.”
The get out the vote effort will continue through the election at the group’s New York Street office.