State and tribal officials in Colorado are rolling out the first voter registration system of its kind for tribal members.
"Colorado is poised to be the first state to to expand automatic voter registration to Native American reservations, thanks to a new registration system.
Tribal members have the right to vote in elections, from the local to the national level, just like other U.S. citizens. But actually casting a ballot has been an uphill battle for many tribal residents, including those here in Colorado. Even after obtaining official U.S. citizenship a century ago, Native Americansā ability to vote has been consistently ignored or actively undermined. In recent decades, unequal access to in-person voting, early voting and election funding on tribal lands has been a particular issue...
Working with Colorado tribes, state lawmakers passed a set of election reforms earlier this year to expand voting access for Native Americans. Those reforms include the nationās first automatic voter registration program of its kind for Native Americans. The program will cover both of the federally-recognized Native American reservations in the stateāthe Southern Ute Indian Tribe and the Ute Mountain Ute Tribe, and will allow the tribesā governments to submit lists of members to be registered through the Secretary of State Jena Griswoldās office.
Griswold said the new registration system could make a big difference for Colorado's tribal communities.
"Seeing registration rates and turnout rates being much, much lower on tribal lands is a big problem that we want to solve,ā Griswold said. āI personally believe automatic voter registration is one of the best ways to register voters in the state of Colorado, and all of our data shows how highly effective it is.ā
Colorado is one of more than two dozen states that have automatic voter registration systems, but Colorado is the only state so far to extend its system to cover Native American reservations. When Colorado rolled out its system for the first time in 2020, about 250,000 people were added to the stateās voter rolls within the first year.
Now, [Secretary of State] Griswold hopes the new registration program will have a similar effect on tribal lands in the state. She wants to see the program in place in time for the 2024 election. For now, tribal leadership is reviewing the plan and providing feedback on it.
āIt will not take us much time to register people once we start receiving data,ā Griswold told KUNC. āBut I think there's a couple of logistics to still work through.ā
Measures to keep tribal members' information confidential were added recently at the request of the Southern Ute tribe, and lawmakers have also increased the number of on-reservation vote centers available for early voting and on Election Day.
This yearās election reforms also build on a slew of changes in recent years. For example, in 2019 Colorado lawmakers guaranteed in-person voting centers on tribal lands and loosened address requirements for voters."
-via GoodGoodGood, December 15, 2023















