I usually wait until Election Day to cast a vote, but this year I felt a greater sense of urgency, and my husband was feeling the same way. As we were about to leave our house and drive to the county election office, he asked: “Do we need something to prove where we live?”
I sighed: “We probably do.”
He said yes.
I had been feeling the same way.
Armed with our driver's licenses, water and electric bills, we drove to the Missoula County Courthouse to fill out and turn in our absentee ballots, joining a line of people who showed up to cast their vote before Election Day. As of Thursday, Missoula County elections officials had issued nearly 19,000 absentee ballots - with still about 20 days before the election - easily surpassing the 17,000 absentee ballots issued in 2006.
Even though the Montana Republican Party's recent challenge to 6,000 voters has been dropped, it still instilled fear about whether my vote would count. The Republicans targeted people whose address didn't match records at the post office.
Still, I can't shake the fact that many of the people meant to be intimidated by the challenge were college students and Indian voters, groups targeted in seven Montana counties where the vote tends to tilt favorably toward Democratic candidates.
I voted early because I didn't want any surprises on Nov. 4.
I also have another reason for casting an early ballot this year. It's because I've seen too many people working way too hard to register Native voters in tribal communities. And, to their credit, many of these dedicated volunteers have met or exceeded their goals, particularly on Montana reservations.
I know campaign volunteers who have been working around the clock to encourage Native people to vote in states like Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona, Oregon and Washington.
On the Fort Berthold Reservation in North Dakota last week, a grass-roots committee organized five days of activities aimed at rallying reservation voters. The event included a rally, a walk and T-shirt, poster and songwriting contests.
But all their efforts mean nothing if people don't actually make it to a voting booth on or before Election Day. I saw a lot of young people filling out absentee ballots while I was at the Missoula County Courthouse. I didn't see too many Native voters.
After months of voter registration drives, how many Natives will take the time to vote? The McCain-Palin campaign has had a near nonexistent presence in Montana tribal communities, while the Obama-Biden campaign has paid staff members working on more than half the reservations.
Even so, Native voters in Montana lagged behind the general voting population in the June primary election. The average reservation voter turnout in the primary election was 37 percent, compared to the statewide average of 45 percent.
I called Democratic campaign organizers in Wisconsin and South Dakota to see how effective they were in getting Native voters to the polls in primaries. They kept a tight lid on their success rate. But numbers speak louder than words. Results from South Dakota's primary show Shannon County, which encompasses the Pine Ridge Reservation, with only a 27 percent voter turnout in this Democratic Indian stronghold.
Native people like to believe their vote counts. And some prime examples exist in recent years to prove the Native vote has push selected candidates to victory. Senators in states like Washington, Alaska, Washington, Montana and South Dakota are still thanking Native people for putting them into office.
As Natives, we were the last group given the right to vote when we were formally recognized as U.S. citizens in 1924.
As the original citizens of this country, we should make it a personal priority to be the first to vote.
Jodi Rave covers Native issues for the Missoulian and Lee Enterprises, and can be reached at (406)523-5299 or jodi.rave@missoulian.com.
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