MANDAN, N.D. -- When it came to pushing voter turnout among North Dakota Native Americans, 2020 was a tough year.

Because of the pandemic, the state didn't see as much activity in tribal areas as in other parts of the country. But one group said connections still were made, and has its eyes on future elections.

Going into 2020, North Dakota Native Vote wanted to build on the higher turnout among Native populations the state saw in 2018. Early estimates indicate the number will be lower.

Nicole Donaghy, executive director of the group, said because of the adaptability of their field staff, their momentum isn't lost forever.

"We've made those connections and we were reinforcing our brand: getting North Dakota Native Vote out there again," Donaghy explained. "And so people are certainly familiar with us, and that can only help."

Amid the election's final stages, COVID cases were spiking in North Dakota. The group did virtual training for canvassers on reservations to still reach voters.

Donaghy said looking forward, they'll do more planning so they can deploy a variety of strategies based on the circumstances.

The energy from Native voters in recent years is seen as important because of the state's voter ID requirements, which advocates say disenfranchises their people.

A contributor to not losing that momentum is the Sacred Pipe Resource Center in Mandan.

Cheryl Kary, executive director for the Center, said thanks to extra funding, they deployed field staff for door-to-door canvassing when conditions allowed.

For future elections, she stressed a goal is to raise more awareness about obtaining a necessary ID for voting.

"We do have a very mobile population," Kary observed. "So, it's not uncommon for someone to have two, three, four addresses a year. And so, trying to keep up and getting information out there, where they can get their ID's and how they can update them and things like that."

Kary emphasized the coalition also hopes to convince election authorities to hire more Native Americans to work at polling locations. She said that can help Indigenous voters feel less intimidated.

Donaghy added no matter the office, recruitment of candidates is another important part of getting the momentum back on track.

"We encourage people to run for their school boards, or to run for the county commission," Donaghy remarked. "There's a lot of challenges because it's not a common thing, and a lot of our people don't feel that they belong in these spaces but they certainly do."

At the state level, three Native women ran for legislative seats, but fell short. However, Donaghy sees more Indigenous women seeking office as they've shown a greater interest.

At the national level, a record number of Native American women were elected to Congress this year.

A new report showed turnover among California chief election officials reached 57% in 2022, a record high. It then declined this year to 40%.

Researchers at the University of California-Los Angeles partnered with the Bipartisan Policy Center to analyze the data from 18,000 jurisdictions nationwide.

Rachel Orey, senior associate director of the Elections Project for the Bipartisan Policy Center, said the jobs of election workers have become significantly harder in recent years.

"Today, election officials must manage everything from cybersecurity risks posed by foreign adversaries to people who are doubting the outcome of elections, to information technology, legal disputes, political pressures," Orey outlined.

The turnover rate is defined as the percentage of jurisdictions in a state where the chief local election official changed within the prior four years. It has been an issue in California for decades. The turnover rate stood at 41% back in 2004. But things got much worse after 2020, when election officials became targets of threats and harassment, often spurred by former President Donald Trump's evidence-free claims about a rigged election.

Orey noted she expects this year's presidential election to go smoothly, because dozens of states, including California, have done a lot to "beef up" the elections workforce.

"Sixty-five percent of local election officials have experience running a presidential election," Orey pointed out. "Where there are new officials, we find that they have an average of eight years of experience in an election office. So all in all, we see that election officials are well-prepared to administer the 2024 presidential election."

The report recommended better funding for elections offices, higher salaries and more training in order to attract and retain a highly skilled election workforce.

Support for this reporting was provided by The Carnegie Corporation of New York.


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North Dakota's June 11 primary is inching closer and those running for legislative seats are trying to win over voters, including Native American candidates who are part of a movement energized by newly drawn political boundaries.

The organization North Dakota Native Vote said there are seven candidates with Indigenous roots seeking spots in the Legislature. Most are running in District 9, which was recently updated to reflect representation needs for two Native American tribes.

Natasha Gourd, a board member of North Dakota Native Vote, described them as a good mixture of candidates coming from both reservations in the area, with some running as Democrats and others as Republicans.

"We've seen an upturn in participation and just getting leadership development through Native candidates," Gourd observed.

The election wave comes after the state saw 10 Native candidates in legislative races two years ago. For her group, Gourd acknowledged the boost can be tricky because they cannot endorse everyone running. But she noted having greater assurances the areas will be represented by people from their community -- no matter if they have a different stance on certain issues -- is still a positive.

Gourd added trying to build on the momentum is also important for off-reservation districts.

"What they do at the state level, regardless of Native American people in North Dakota (being part of) federally recognized tribes, it does affect us," Gourd pointed out. "Most Natives in North Dakota do live off the reservation, so it does affect our populations."

Gourd stressed they need more Native voices at the state level speaking out about priorities within education, the housing crisis, energy issues and health care. She hopes the positive trends they're seeing inspire more civic participation among other racial and ethnic groups trying to get a seat at the policy table in North Dakota.

A new poll finds a near 20-year low in the number of voters who say they have a high interest in the 2024 election, with a majority saying they hold negative views of both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump. A group of Arizona elections officials and experts recently gathered to discuss the growing discontent with the state's current electoral landscape.

Stephen Richer, Maricopa County Recorder, said that if politicians are what he calls "single-minded seekers of re-election," he contends the state should change the political incentive structure.

"And if those incentives will change, then maybe we will be talking about more things in the Arizona Voter's Agenda and less things that are currently right now incentivized by what I still believe to be a minority, but a very passionate, very loud, and a minority that is definitely committed to acting on those issues," he said.

Richer added it is important to remember that despite Independent and unaffiliated voters being able to participate in the July 30th statewide primary, they were excluded from the state's March Presidential Preference Election, and that has caught the eye of some in the state. The bipartisan group Make Elections Fair Arizona is pushing for open primaries, but proponents of closed primaries believe they're crucial to maintaining the integrity of party ideals.

Amanda Burke, executive vice president with the non-partisan, nonprofit organization Center for the Future of Arizona, said more than half of unaffiliated voters do not feel they have leaders or candidates running who speak to the issues and causes they care about. She contends that then translates to who decides to show up at the ballot box and vote, and encourages Arizonans to imagine a different primary system if they want different outcomes.

"Otherwise we are going to continue to have some more outcomes in terms of people who are incentivized to speak to a small percentage of their base on either side who are really not representative of the larger views," she explained.

The Grand Canyon State allows voter-initiated amendments to the state constitution, but the Arizona Require Partisan Primary Elections Amendment would add the state's current primary practice to the state constitution, prohibiting future changes without another constitutional amendment. Make Elections Fair Arizona is still collecting signatures to get its measure on the November ballot.


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