Native Vote 2012

Letter from NCAI President Jefferson Keel

Jefferson Keel in Native Currents. Discussion »

WASHINGTON DC – Editor's Note: The following letter is from Jefferson Keel, Chickasaw, president of the National Congress of American Indians. In this presidential election year, President Keel is a strong advocate of getting American Indians and Alaska Native registered and prepared to vote in the upcoming primaries and in the November presidential election.

Furthermore, the Native News Network advocates for strong Native participation in the upcoming election.

Dear Tribal Leader & Native Vote Advocate:

Register & Prepare

At next week's Executive Council Winter Session in Washington DC, NCAI will be hosting an important pre-meeting on Monday, March 5.

I urge all tribal leaders attending next week's session to join our Native Vote team from 9am - noon on Monday as they provide insights on the 2012 campaign and how your tribe can get involved.

The training will be led by Peggy Flanagan, Native American Leadership Program Director at Wellstone Action. She will be joined by new Native Vote partner organizations that are eager to work with us:

As part of the campaign's focus on youth, leaders from Rock the Vote and the US Student Association will discuss strategies to engage and educate Native youth. We will also discuss tools that your tribe can use to identify and educate voters in your community.

2012 will be an important year for the Native Vote. There are more than 1 million eligible voters in Indian Country who are not registered! In this year's State of Indian Nations Address, I pledged that we will work tirelessly in 2012 to see the highest Native turnout ever - and we need the help and leadership of tribal leaders across the country to achieve this goal. We need to get out the vote not only to have Native voices heard, but also to ensure that US leaders understand Indian Country and that Indian Country matters.

You can help by:

If you, other members of your council, or members of your staff, will be here in Washington next week, we would love to have you join us. This is a unique opportunity to meet with other tribal leaders and strategize to ensure Indian Country matters at the ballot box in 2012!

I look forward to seeing you next week!

posted March 2, 2012 7:00 am est