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Red Medicine get-out-the-vote organizers Joyce Tatsey Spoonhunter, left, and Joleen DeRoche, right, register to vote Heart Butte resident Carl Cree Medicine sitting in his white pickup parked on the driveway outside his home on the Blackfeet Nation on Sept. 20. Red Medicine is a group that focuses on empowering Native communities in local, state and federal politics. 

Braving groups of barking dogs outside homes, get-out-the-vote organizer Joyce Tatsey Spoonhunter, left, goes door-to-door registering voters across the Heart Butte community with Red Medicine co-founder Patrick Yawakie-Peltier and other voter organizers on Sept. 20. For years, Native vote organizers have faced numerous barriers such as long travel distances to polls and lack of traditional addresses or mailing services when it comes to registering people to vote and getting voters to the polls. 

Co-founder of Red Medicine Patrick Yawakie-Peltier, right, registers Heart Butte resident Leland Aimsback Sr. to vote outside his home on the Blackfeet Nation on Sept. 20. Red Medicine was recently contracted by the Montana Democratic Party to help engage with voters in communities across the Blackfeet Nation and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes ahead of the November midterms.

Freshman student Gabriel Old Bull Kelly fills out a voter registration card as Western Native Voice holds voter registration and redistricting training classes at the Little Big Horn College campus in Crow Agency.

Gabriel Old Bull Kelly has his picture taken after filling out a voter registration card as Western Native Voice holds voter registration and redistricting training classes at the Little Big Horn College campus in Crow Agency on Thursday.

Mia Spoonhunter, a vote organizer with Red Medicine, pores over maps of redrawn state legislative districts in northwest Montana, which comprises the Flathead and Blackfeet reservations, during a get-out-the-vote campaign in Heart Butte on Sept. 20. As the November midterms inch closer, Native voting organizations such as Red Medicine are facing an uphill battle when it comes to harnessing voters' attention and combating lack of engagement.

Students take a redistricting class as Western Native Voice holds voter registration and redistricting classes at the Little Big Horn College campus in Crow Agency on Thursday.

The Montana redistricting hearings are under way as Western Native Voice holds voter registration and redistricting training classes at the Little Big Horn College campus in Crow Agency on Thursday.

Red Medicine vote organizers held a get-out-the-vote campaign in Heart Butte on the Blackfeet Nation on Sept. 20. The group brought voter registration sheets for residents to fill out and update their registration information ahead of the November midterms. Native people make up of about 6.7% of Montana’s population, and experts and organizers say the voting block is capable of swinging elections.

From left, Red Medicine vote organizers Mia Spoonhunter, Joleen DeRoche, Joyce Tatsey Spoonhunter and Patrick Yawakie-Peltier walk up a ramp to knock on a residence in the Heart Butte community. This year's primary revealed a low turnout in Native communities across Montana. Heart Butte is comprised of around 621 people. But according to Yawakie-Peltier, only seven Heart Butte residents voted in the primary.

Western Native Voice offers $25 gift cards for taking a redistricting training class at the Little Big Horn College campus in Crow Agency on Thursday.

Clarena Brockie, a former state legislator and decades long vote organizer from Fort Belknap, poses for a portrait outside the Aaniiih Nakoda College in Harlem on Sept. 21. Brockie, 73, said the Native vote has largely contributed to the victory of candidates when former Congressman Pat Williams won in 1978. Now she's worried about the ongoing dwindling of voting engagement around the reservation.

Tina Bierle, a vote coordinator with Western Native Voice in Fort Belknap, poses for a portrait in Harlem on Sept. 21. Bierle said most of the comments she gets from voters on the reservation is feeling that "their vote doesn't matter" in state and federal elections." It matters," she said. "This affects you. It affects your kids, your schools, your community, your family.”

Lance Four Star, a regional coordinator for Western Native Voice, talks about the Native vote on the Fort Peck Reservation at a community hall in Wolf Point on Sept. 22. Four Star said most of the frustration and comments he gets from Fort Peck voters is that because they live on sovereign tribal land, many assume that state elections don't affect them on tribal nations.

HEART BUTTE — As Patrick Yawakie-Peltier walked up a driveway in Heart Butte, clipboard in hand, barking dogs swarmed him.

“Hey,” Yawakie-Peltier said as he waded through the dogs toward a man sitting in a pickup in the driveway. “Can we register you to vote? It only takes a few seconds, and we can help you do it.”

“Sure,” Carl Cree Medicine said as he opened the truck door.

“There was really low voter turnout in the primary,” Yawakie-Peltier explained. “It’s worth participating. We need to get our representation up.”

Cree Medicine nodded as he wrote his information on the form.

Native vote organizers have always faced barriers when it comes to getting people to the polls. People living on reservations often must travel long distances to a polling location. While satellite voting offices were established on reservations to remedy the issue, many are still inaccessible to community members who may not have access to a vehicle or the ability to take time off work.

Homes on reservations sometimes lack traditional addresses or mail services, making it harder for residents to send or receive ballots by mail. And in 2021, the state Legislature passed laws restricting ballot collection and same-day voter registration. While those laws have been overturned or stayed by judges, they may still cause confusion.

Native people comprise about 6.7% of Montana’s population. While political polling has not captured the exact number of Indigenous voters in the state, experts and organizers say the voting bloc can swing elections.

Yawakie-Peltier last year co-founded Red Medicine, a group that aims to empower Indigenous communities in local, state and federal politics. Ahead of the midterms, the Montana Democratic Party contracted Red Medicine to help engage the Blackfeet and Flathead reservation communities.

When asked what the Republican Party was doing to engage Native voters, a spokesperson said “the Montana GOP is working to reach all Montana voters.”

Red Medicine vote organizers Mia Spoonhunter, Joleen DeRoche, Joyce Tatsey Spoonhunter and co-founder Patrick Yawakie-Peltier held a get-out-the-vote campaign in Heart Butte on the Blackfeet Nation on Sept. 20. The group brought voter registration sheets for residents to fill out and update their registration information ahead of the November midterms. As the midterm election approaches, Native organizers are facing an uphill battle. Their biggest challenge appears to be capturing voters’ attention. Native people make up of about 6.7% of Montana’s population, and experts and organizers say the voting block is capable of swinging elections.

Joyce Tatsey Spoonhunter, a Red Medicine organizer, walked up to another house and knocked on the door. Nineteen-year-old Leland Aimsback Jr. emerged, dressed in basketball shorts, socks and a T-shirt in the 49-degree weather. He wasn't registered to vote, and didn't have identification handy.

“Here, hang these on your fridge,” Spoonhunter said as she handed him some flyers. “And let your grandma know we came by!”

Yawakie-Peltier and Spoonhunter moved to the next house. The dogs barked, and they knocked.

As the midterm election approaches this November, Native organizers across reservations in Montana are again facing an uphill battle. This time, though, their biggest challenge appears to be capturing voters’ attention.  

The primary revealed a low turnout in Native communities, and organizers can’t pinpoint a reason why. Some voters don’t understand the importance of participating in statewide and national elections. Some feel like their vote doesn’t matter. And some don’t know an election is approaching.

Organizers say the consequences of this lack of engagement could be dire, as Native representation in the Legislature and the perceived strength of the Native vote are at stake.

While primaries — especially during midterm elections — normally turn out fewer voters than general elections, Native organizers have said this year’s Montana primary, on June 7, was disastrous.

“I’m appalled by the lack of interest,” said Rae Peppers, a former state legislator. “People are disgruntled with the way things are going. In the past, voting was important. I think we lost that concept that our vote counts.”

Ta’jin Perez, deputy director at Western Native Voice, said Native voters are often “dealing with more pressing day-to-day priorities.”

COVID-19 devastated Indigenous communities in Montana, and inflation and rising gas prices have hit the rural reservation towns especially hard.

“(The election) just isn’t on people’s radar,” Perez said. “There’s not a whole lot of politicos in Indian Country.”

Located at the southern edge of the Blackfeet Reservation, 621 people call Heart Butte home. But according to Yawakie-Peltier, only seven Heart Butte residents voted in the federal primary.

The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council election occurred the same day as the primary. And by contrast, the Heart Butte community presented hundreds of votes in that election, which ultimately ousted many council incumbents.

One may think it would be easy to vote in the primary if it’s happening the same day as a council election, but Yawakie-Peltier said that’s not the case.

Tribal council elections are organized by the tribe, and people can cast their votes in any number of designated tribal buildings or community centers. While council candidates post on Facebook, organize events and create signs encouraging their constituents to vote, Yawakie-Peltier said there are few visual reminders on the Blackfeet Reservation that would signal a federal primary.

“There are no candidate signs here,” he said. “If you just drove through, you’d never know a primary was coming, just based on the aesthetics of the reservation.”

In Glacier County, which overlaps with much of the Blackfeet Reservation, 26% of registered voters voted in the primary. In the 2018 primary, which also fell during a midterm election, 36% of registered voters in Glacier County voted. Typically, about 60% eligible voters in the U.S. participate in general elections and 40% vote in midterms. In the 2020 general election, 69% of Glacier County registered voters turned out.

“People are disenfranchised, apathetic and disengaged,” said Yawakie-Peltier. “They haven’t been able to engage in this system and have it be meaningful in their lives.”

Spoonhunter, a lifetime member of the Heart Butte community, said the rural area is too often neglected when it comes to state and national elections.

“It’s expensive to buy gas to come out here,” she said. “People who live here often don’t have cable, Wi-Fi or cell service, so it’s hard for them to stay in-the-know. Times are tough. If someone has to choose between food and gas to go vote, they’ll pick food every time.”

Organizers in other communities have expressed similar concerns. In Blaine County, which has a 51% Native population and overlaps with the Fort Belknap Reservation, 29.5% of registered voters turned out for the primary, compared with 35% in the 2018 primary.

Clarena Brockie, a former state legislator, has organized voting efforts on the Fort Belknap Reservation for decades. She said when former Congressman Pat Williams won in 1978, she remembers him attributing the victory to the Native vote.

“People started to see we were making moves and making our voice heard,” she said. “There was this feeling of excitement like you’re part of something bigger than just ourselves. That feeling makes you want to vote. It makes you feel like it matters.”

But she said engagement on the reservation has dwindled since. Brockie, 73, has since retired but said she’ll have to come out of retirement to help register voters again this year.

“I have to,” she said. “I just have to.”

Jade Sooktis, a Northern Cheyenne Nation voting coordinator who has also partnered with the Democratic Party, said organizers got a late start this year. She organized voters when Sen. Jon Tester ran for re-election in 2018 and said she engaged voters many months before the election.

“I don’t feel like people are focused or even know there is an election this year,” she said. “People aren’t engaged, but that’s probably because we just haven’t engaged them yet.”

The Northern Cheyenne Council held a primary Oct. 6 for five open council seats, and the tribe’s general election will occur Nov. 8 — the same day as the midterm. Sooktis said she fears the general election could be “shadowed.”

In close-knit tribal communities, council elections are a big deal. The tribal council can pass resolutions that affect people’s everyday lives. The Blackfeet Tribal Business Council in 2020 voted to close the east gates to Glacier National Park to prevent the spread of COVID-19. The Northern Cheyenne Tribal Council recently approved additional economic stimulus payments for members. And the Fort Peck Tribal Executive Board incentivized COVID-19 vaccines with $500 payments. Elections can become especially contentious, as residents often know members of the council and candidates personally.

“People tell me, ‘I don’t care about the state (election), I care about the council,” said Tina Bierle, Western Native Voice coordinator in Fort Belknap. “But the council has to work with these people at the state. It matters. This affects you. It affects your kids, your schools, your community, your family.”

Western Native Voice, a nonpartisan group that encourages Indigenous engagement, holds events on and around tribal communities to register and educate voters.

At one such event at Little Big Horn College in Crow Agency in September, college students and families enjoyed food, games and a bouncy house as organization members encouraged their civic participation.

When asked about which issues they cared about most heading into the midterm, tribal politics came to mind for many. Some people said they wanted trash to be cleaned up on the reservation, others pointed to frustrations with the tribal council or with tribal law enforcement, and some people just didn’t know how to get involved or where to look for information on the election.

“I want to know how it works, but it’s all so complicated,” said Chad BadBear, a student at Little Big Horn College.

Caleb Doyle, a 19-year-old freshman at the tribal college, echoed his friend’s thoughts.

“Information is the problem,” he said. “We need more information on who’s running, what they can actually do when they’re in power and how much money they make.”

Margaret “Gayle” Brown, who is raising eight grandchildren, said she feels generally discouraged by politics these days.

“It’s hard raising these children,” she said. “It hurts. I want things to be better for them — housing, health care, everything. But it seems no one follows through on their promises. I’m just hoping someone will actually follow through.”

Because tribes are sovereign and have their own governments, laws and courts, organizers say people may assume that state elections don’t affect tribal nations.

Lance Four Star, Western Native Voice membership committee chairman, said “the attitude on the rez is, ‘Why should I vote?’”

“There’s this idea of, ‘What has the government done for me except put me on this reservation and limit my rights?’”

While the frustration is valid, Four Star and other organizers must battle the misconception through education.

Members of Montana’s delegation regularly vote on issues that affect all Montanans, like health care, education, COVID-19 and infrastructure, among others. The U.S. Senate has a Committee on Indian Affairs, of which Sens. Steve Daines and Jon Tester are members.

And state lawmakers matter, too. There are 12 Native American lawmakers in Montana’s Legislature. It’s the first time the American Indian Caucus has achieved parity, meaning Indigenous lawmakers comprise about 8% of the Legislature, which mirrors the Native population in Montana.

State lawmakers also regularly vote on issues that affect tribes. Last legislative session in 2021, lawmakers proposed a $500,000 budget cut to the Montana Indian Language Preservation Program, but the effort was thwarted when members of the American Indian Caucus decried the move. The Legislature last session also passed a number of laws, concerning bison, tax exemptions and voting, that Native lawmakers said attacked tribal sovereignty.

A number of American Indian Caucus members are up for reelection this year, including Sens. Susan Weber, D-Browning and Shane Morigeau, D-Missoula, and representatives Marvin Weatherwax Jr., D-Browning, Tyson Running Wolf, D-Browning, Rynalea Whiteman Pena, D-Lame Deer and Sharon Stewart Peregoy, D-Crow Agency. Organizers say if voters don’t support Native candidates, the American Indian Caucus could shrink, and as a result, wield less power.

Sooktis said it’s critical that Native communities elect leaders who understand “how life is for us.”

“Putting proper leadership in these places is critical for the betterment of our community,” she said. “This is how we grow. This is how we leave a better place for our kids and future generations. If we don’t have leaders that acknowledge us, we might lose a lot.”

Organizers fear that if Indigenous people don’t turn out to vote, they could risk the perception that the Native vote matters, meaning candidates could potentially feel like they can overlook Native populations when campaigning, and more importantly, when crafting policy.

“When we come out in force, we become a force to be reckoned with,” Four Star said. “Candidates see that. It makes them want to come here and listen to us.”

Tracie Garfield, communications director at Western Native Voice, summed it up.

“What’s at stake?” she asked. “Our voice. If we don’t speak, we’ll lose it.”

After registering Cree Medicine from the seat of his pickup, Yawakie-Peltier and Spoonhunter walked down his driveway. Cree Medicine called after them:“I’ll be sure to vote!”

“Yeah!” Yawakie-Peltier and Spoonhunter shouted in unison without turning around. As they cut through a pack of dogs, Yawakie-Peltier raised his fist in the air.

The midterm election will occur Tuesday, Nov. 8. For more information on how to register to vote, visit sosmt.gov/elections/vote. If you have questions on voting in your tribal community, contact Western Native Voice at 406-869-1938 or Red Medicine on Facebook. 

This project was produced with financial support from the American Press Institute. Lee Montana journalists Nora Mabie, Antonio Ibarra and Larry Mayer are reporting from all seven Montana tribal reservations on how voter outreach and registration efforts resonate in Indian Country.

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Nora Mabie is the Indigenous Communities reporter for Lee Montana.

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Red Medicine get-out-the-vote organizers Joyce Tatsey Spoonhunter, left, and Joleen DeRoche, right, register to vote Heart Butte resident Carl Cree Medicine sitting in his white pickup parked on the driveway outside his home on the Blackfeet Nation on Sept. 20. Red Medicine is a group that focuses on empowering Native communities in local, state and federal politics. 

Braving groups of barking dogs outside homes, get-out-the-vote organizer Joyce Tatsey Spoonhunter, left, goes door-to-door registering voters across the Heart Butte community with Red Medicine co-founder Patrick Yawakie-Peltier and other voter organizers on Sept. 20. For years, Native vote organizers have faced numerous barriers such as long travel distances to polls and lack of traditional addresses or mailing services when it comes to registering people to vote and getting voters to the polls. 

Co-founder of Red Medicine Patrick Yawakie-Peltier, right, registers Heart Butte resident Leland Aimsback Sr. to vote outside his home on the Blackfeet Nation on Sept. 20. Red Medicine was recently contracted by the Montana Democratic Party to help engage with voters in communities across the Blackfeet Nation and Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes ahead of the November midterms.

Freshman student Gabriel Old Bull Kelly fills out a voter registration card as Western Native Voice holds voter registration and redistricting training classes at the Little Big Horn College campus in Crow Agency.

Gabriel Old Bull Kelly has his picture taken after filling out a voter registration card as Western Native Voice holds voter registration and redistricting training classes at the Little Big Horn College campus in Crow Agency on Thursday.

Mia Spoonhunter, a vote organizer with Red Medicine, pores over maps of redrawn state legislative districts in northwest Montana, which comprises the Flathead and Blackfeet reservations, during a get-out-the-vote campaign in Heart Butte on Sept. 20. As the November midterms inch closer, Native voting organizations such as Red Medicine are facing an uphill battle when it comes to harnessing voters' attention and combating lack of engagement.

Students take a redistricting class as Western Native Voice holds voter registration and redistricting classes at the Little Big Horn College campus in Crow Agency on Thursday.

The Montana redistricting hearings are under way as Western Native Voice holds voter registration and redistricting training classes at the Little Big Horn College campus in Crow Agency on Thursday.

Red Medicine vote organizers held a get-out-the-vote campaign in Heart Butte on the Blackfeet Nation on Sept. 20. The group brought voter registration sheets for residents to fill out and update their registration information ahead of the November midterms. Native people make up of about 6.7% of Montana’s population, and experts and organizers say the voting block is capable of swinging elections.

From left, Red Medicine vote organizers Mia Spoonhunter, Joleen DeRoche, Joyce Tatsey Spoonhunter and Patrick Yawakie-Peltier walk up a ramp to knock on a residence in the Heart Butte community. This year's primary revealed a low turnout in Native communities across Montana. Heart Butte is comprised of around 621 people. But according to Yawakie-Peltier, only seven Heart Butte residents voted in the primary.

Western Native Voice offers $25 gift cards for taking a redistricting training class at the Little Big Horn College campus in Crow Agency on Thursday.

Clarena Brockie, a former state legislator and decades long vote organizer from Fort Belknap, poses for a portrait outside the Aaniiih Nakoda College in Harlem on Sept. 21. Brockie, 73, said the Native vote has largely contributed to the victory of candidates when former Congressman Pat Williams won in 1978. Now she's worried about the ongoing dwindling of voting engagement around the reservation.

Tina Bierle, a vote coordinator with Western Native Voice in Fort Belknap, poses for a portrait in Harlem on Sept. 21. Bierle said most of the comments she gets from voters on the reservation is feeling that "their vote doesn't matter" in state and federal elections." It matters," she said. "This affects you. It affects your kids, your schools, your community, your family.”

Lance Four Star, a regional coordinator for Western Native Voice, talks about the Native vote on the Fort Peck Reservation at a community hall in Wolf Point on Sept. 22. Four Star said most of the frustration and comments he gets from Fort Peck voters is that because they live on sovereign tribal land, many assume that state elections don't affect them on tribal nations.

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