Not to be confused with Native Vote, a voter engagement project of the National Congress of American Indians.
Natives Vote is a left-of-center Native American activist organization formed by collaboration between left-of-center Native American activist organizations IllumiNative, Native Organizers Alliance, and the University of Colorado Boulder’s[1] First Peoples Worldwide.[2] [3]
Natives Vote produced and distributed artwork,[4] including pieces showing the destruction of Mt. Rushmore, [5] [6] as a part of its effort to expand Native American voter turnout in the 2020 election. Natives Vote receives research support and funding from left-of-center advocacy group NDN Collective[7] and routes its online donations through the left-of-center ActBlue Charities.[8]
Judith LeBlanc, former national vice-chair of the Communist Party USA [9] [10] and director of the left-of-center Native Organizers Alliance (NOA) is one of Natives Vote’s co-chairs. [11] [12]
History and Leadership
Natives Vote was founded as a collaborative effort between the left-of-center IllumiNative, Native Organizers Alliance, and University of Colorado Boulder’s First Peoples Worldwide to use the 2020 election as an “inflection point”[13] to increase Native American political power and increase voter turnout throughout Indian Country.[14]
Judith LeBlanc, former national vice-chair of the Communist Party USA[15] [16] and director of the left-of-center Native Organizers Alliance,[17] co-leads Natives Vote with Crystal Echohawk, director of the left-of-center IllumiNative. [18] [19] Echohawk has made 62 donations to political candidates or committees since 2018, all either directly to Democratic Party candidates or routed through ActBlue.[20]
Activities and Funding
Natives Vote focused on the production and distribution of artwork, videos,[21] apparel, and gear (such as branded COVID face masks) [22] to increase Native American turnout around the country. Natives Vote’s branded “voting is sacred” t-shirts were “a few of the incentives used to energize voters” at two or more voting sites in Nevada.[23]
Natives Vote’s 2020 election artwork collection to encourage voter participation includes two images which show the destruction of Mt. Rushmore along with “defend sovereignty,” “vote early,” and “vote” slogans.[24] [25]
In addition to their art and media activities, Natives Vote co-hosted a town hall with IllumiNative and NOA to increase youth turnout in 2020[26] and asked individuals to call the phone number associated with[27] the left-of-center Election Protection Coalition for voting assistance.[28]
Prior to the 2020 election, Natives Vote used TurboVote,[29] a project of Democracy Works, a non-profit that promotes the use of technology to increase voter engagement largely funded by left-of-center private foundations,[30] to steer individuals to check registration status and register to vote on their site.[31]
Despite being organization formed by the left-of-center IllumiNative, Native Organizers Alliance (NOA), and First Peoples Project,[32] [33] Natives Vote also received financial support from the University of Colorado Boulder Outreach Awards Committee[34] and received research funding from left-of-center advocacy group NDN Collective.[35]
In 2020, Natives Vote hosted a 2020 election pledge on the left-of-center fundraising website Action Network[36] and redirected potential donors to an ActBlue network fundraising webpage which informs donors that their donation will benefit the left-of-center Native Organizers Alliance and not the Natives Vote organization.[37]