Native Voters Alliance Nevada

In 2023, Native Voters Alliance Nevada received $495,000 from left-of-center financier George Soros’ Open Society Foundations. ² In 2022, the group received $300,000 from Way to Win Action Fund, $293,261 from America Votes, ^{3 4} and $210,000 from the New Venture Fund. ⁵

Leadership

Taylor Patterson is the executive director of Native Voters Alliance Nevada. ⁶ She has written articles regarding Native American voting for the left-of-center Nevada Current, an affiliate of the national left-of-center media project States Newsroom. ⁷

Barbara Hartzell is the president of Native Voters Alliance Nevada. ⁸ Prior to this, she has worked in roles with the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the SEIU, Unite Us, the re-election campaign of then-Nevada Lieutenant Governor Lisa Cano Burkhead (D), the Nevada Conservation League, and the Nevada State Education Association. ⁹

Activities

Native Voters Alliance Nevada is a left-of-center get-out-the-vote (GOTV) activist organization that targets Native American voters and organizations in Nevada at the local, state, and federal levels. ¹ In 2022, the organization spent $319,877 on GOTV efforts including phone banking, texting, and canvassing activities. ¹⁰

The organization has participated in Biden administration roundtables with U.S. Representative Steven Horsford (D-NV) in support of Biden administration spending programs including the Inflation Reduction Act, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act, and the American Rescue Plan Act. ¹¹

In March 2023, the group supported President Joe Biden’s decision to designate the creation of the Avi Kwa Ame National Monument. Native Voters Alliance Nevada claimed to have advised the Biden administration in favor of this designation. ^{12 13}

Political Activism

In 2024, the organization worked with several left-of-center organizations to organize get-out-the-vote efforts within the state of Nevada. ¹⁴

During the 2022 election cycle, Native Voters Alliance Nevada claimed to have made over 45,000 calls, sent over 48,000 text messages, and sent more than 20,000 pieces of mail to Native American voters in the state. ¹⁵

During the 2020 election cycle, Native Voters Alliance Nevada was a member of the left-of-center Fair Fight Action Task Force, which advocated for expanding the time needed to count mail-in ballots at polling stations across the state. Other members of this organization included Fair Fight Action, the ACLU of Nevada, All Voting is Local, America Votes Nevada, Battle Born Progress, the Culinary Workers Union, For Our Future Nevada, MPower 360, the Progressive Leadership Alliance of Nevada (PLAN), and Silver State Voices. ¹⁶ The group also partnered with the Asian Community Development Council and One APIA Nevada to encourage the use of early voting in Nevada during the same election cycle. ¹⁷

Funding

Donations to Native Voters Alliance Nevada are routed through ActBlue Civics, a left-of-center fundraising platform. ¹⁸ In 2022, Native Voters Alliance Nevada reported revenue of $979,908 and expenses of $412,962. ¹⁹

In 2023, Native Voters Alliance Nevada received $495,000 from George Soros’ Open Society Foundations through the Open Society Action Fund. ²

In 2022, the group received $300,000 from Way to Win Action Fund, $293,261 from America Votes, ^{20 4} $210,000 from the left-of-center New Venture Fund, ⁵ and $100,000 from the left-of-center Tides Advocacy. ²¹