South Dakota Rep. Kevin Killer, the guy running this GOTV operation, emails me with an update:
We had 125 people vote early in Pine Ridge which is the largest reservation in SD and great turnout. So many people showed up they ran out of ballots. We are bringing first time voters and people who were removed from voter rolls down this week. We are also making an effort after the early vote satellite office closes to do voter reg. this week. They also set up rides to the polls in Rosebud as well, the adjacent reservation to Pine Ridge but waiting for numbers from there.
With the extra resources raised we will be able to expand into urban Native areas too which I think is an untapped population for GOTV efforts both in Sioux Falls and Rapid City because if we can get an extra 500 votes from each place then that’s an extra 1000 on top of our efforts on the other reservations. They are about 9% of the population in both places and have experienced organizers helping in these places!
We’ve identified people on the other reservations as well to help us and they should be ready to give rides to the polls in a few days. After the voter reg closes on the 20th we will still be great giving people rides and begin going door to door to let voters know about ballot initiatives including minimum wage.
I’ll provide a few more updates this week and all of our communities are forever grateful for your support!
From their Facebook page, look at the logistical challenges they face:
Cheyenne River is turning up the vote! Just found out today from their Chairman they will have a satellite office set up starting this week for early voting for Dewey County. The court house is 81-100 miles away!! So an early voting center is Awesome!! They have 21 communities and 3 counties to cover and they are ALL OVER IT!! Li li li!!
Then there’s this story, which provides further details on the GOTV efforts:
Once more, South Dakota Native voters, who are largely Democratic, appear to be in the catbird seat. That’s if they can make it to the polls on the state’s Sioux reservations, with their vast distances and minimal transportation access.
This year their chances of casting a ballot are better than ever, said Killer: “That’s thanks to [voting-rights group] Four Directions bringing satellite polling places to reservations, and the get-out-the-vote money we have just received.” Funds are coming from Daily Kos, which is fundraising for reservation GOTV, the National Congress of American Indians, and other sources, said Four Directions legal director Greg Lembrich.
I like this part:
On Election Day, even more tribes may get GOTV, said Semans. “Depending on funds, we may be able to do get-out-the-vote in more places, including Cheyenne River and Crow Creek.”
“Depending on funds” really comes down to us. Our original goal was $50K. I feared I was being too optimistic, but what did I know? We blew by that in five days. Heck, we’re now at $75,000. So we’ve kicked up the goal to $100,000.
We’ve got real people doing real GOTV that can literally decide control of the Senate. I can’t imagine finding a better group of people to partner with. If you’ve already given to this GOTV effort (or other races), then a billion thanks. You’re not on the sidelines. If you haven’t engaged yet, there’s no better time than now.
