Less than 20 percent of Muscogee Nation citizens were to vote this year as of June 1. In 2021, the that 45,000 Cherokee citizens were registered to vote, a significant increase over previous years but still amounting to around 150,000 Cherokee citizens not registered to vote in the state.
鈥淚n Oklahoma, Natives are still living with historic trauma. There is still a lot of mistrust with federal processes. The tribes here lived through boarding schools, removal from our homelands, and so many things.鈥� said Ginny Underwood (Comanche) from Rock the Native Vote.
Rock the Native Vote is one of many Native voting campaigns in Oklahoma. Underwood said that in the years she has campaigned for Native adults to register in local, state and federal elections, she has seen voter anxiety in Native people centered around mistrust for state and federal governments.
鈥淢aybe we鈥檙e jaded, and rightfully so, but we need to help people understand that if we show up in numbers, it can have positive impacts, like getting elected officials that support tribal sovereignty,鈥� Underwood said.
Shawnee Chief Ben Barnes said in an ICT interview that the Warrior Up and Vote campaign expresses an even stricter message than Rock the Native Vote.
鈥淲e need to look at it like, 鈥榃hat is at stake when we vote? What bills do we want passed?鈥� We need to make sure people we elect on state and national levels truly understand what sovereignty means,鈥� he said.
Voting is still 60 years young for Native American citizens, according to Randy Knight, a Cherokee law student at the University of Tulsa College of Law.
The Indian Citizenship Act gave Native people the right to U.S. citizenship, but it wasn't until 1965 with the Voting Rights Act that all Native adults and other racial minorities had the right to vote.
Knight also said it wasn鈥檛 until 2019 that the was passed by Congress, giving tribes the ability to increase polling sites and expand the types of facilities they use for voter registration.
The act states that there is a wide gap between the voter registration and turnout rates of eligible Native citizens and non-Native citizens.
It says that Native voter access is obstructed by nontraditional addresses for residents on reservations, as well as 鈥渁 lack of accessible registration and polling sites, either due to conditions such as geography, lack of paved roads, the absence of reliable and affordable broadband connectivity, and restrictions on the time and place that people can register and vote.鈥�
The act posed the solution of annual consultations between tribal leaders and the Department of Justice to resolve voting related issues.
鈥淚 think there are some tools we鈥檝e been given in the last four years that can help with Native voter turnout, and I think we鈥檒l start to see the fruits of that in this 2024 election,鈥� said Knight.
He said that engaging in voting is a form of assimilation, but one that is necessary at this point in history. Since NAVRA and the recognition of tribal sovereignty through the McGirt decision, he said 鈥渨e鈥檙e seeing right now how important it is for people to engage in the system, whether they like it or not, because one of the ways to change the system is to engage with it.鈥�
Oklahoma tribes have also made efforts in the past four years to increase Native voter registration.
Cherokee Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. is hopeful that the next generation of Cherokee citizens will be more engaged in voting.
鈥淲e have to identify the issues in terms of public policy and connect them to politics,鈥� he said. 鈥淔rom here forward, Cherokees are particularly motivated to have a governor of Oklahoma who is respectful to tribes and won鈥檛 be hostile.鈥�
A recent issue that Hoskin has discussed is Oklahoma Gov. Kevin Stitt鈥檚 attempts to dismantle tribal tag agencies. For Hoskin, this is a threat to tribal sovereignty, fueled by Stitt鈥檚 concern for state toll tag profit loss.
Knight warned that while youth, Native or non-Native, may be passionate about political issues, that doesn鈥檛 mean they will vote.
鈥淵ou see the young generations get all riled up for an election, and they seem really engaged, but that doesn鈥檛 always turn into voter turnout,鈥� he said.
The Muscogee Nation has worked to diagnose voter apathy in the tribe for the past four years, looking for a remedy. Spokesman Jason Salsman said the most common symptom of voter apathy is feeling invisible.
鈥淵ou see a lot of politicians being critical of the McGirt decision. They don鈥檛 really see things from a Native perspective. That can make you feel like you are not being heard, and sometimes make you feel like you鈥檙e invisible in your own state,鈥� Salsman said. 鈥淲ell, this is subscribing to a false mentality. We have to get people to understand that if they go to the polls, you can let your voice be heard.鈥�
He said Native people in Oklahoma have learned a lot about resilience and enduring spirit in the past 100 years. He believes one of the biggest lessons they have learned is what it means to be a citizen of a sovereign Native nation while also a U.S. citizen.
鈥淲hen people say we have to walk in two worlds, that is what they mean. It鈥檚 not easy. It鈥檚 not a simple reckoning inside your soul. We鈥檙e still fighting for people to understand and respect us in 2024,鈥� he said.
This story is co-published by the and , a news partnership that covers Indigenous communities in the Oklahoma area.