American Indian group to put poll watchers at voting precincts in 12 states

Associated Press  11 September 2004

OKLAHOMA CITY - A national American Indian group plans to put poll watchers at voting precincts with a high percentage of American Indian voters in Oklahoma and 12 other states on Nov. 2.

The Native Vote 2004: Election Protection Project is an initiative to ensure that every Indian voter who is eligible to vote does, and that each vote is counted fairly, said national coordinator Heather Dawn Thompson.

"This has never been done in Indian Country before with the exception of South Dakota. So we're pretty excited about it," said Thompson, who is also president of the Native American Bar Association in Washington, D.C.

In Oklahoma, poll watchers can only witness the set-up of voting machines before the polls open, said Oklahoma County Election Board Secretary Doug Sanderson.

"When the polls open at 7, they have to leave. They can't remain there for the day," Sanderson said.

Thompson said the Oklahoma poll watchers will position themselves outside the 300-foot perimeter established by law around ballot boxes and distribute nonpartisan voter information and answer questions.

Poll watchers will be recruited among tribal attorneys and tribal members, said Dana Jim, one of three Oklahoma co-chairs.

To determine which precincts should have poll watchers, coalition volunteers will ask tribal leaders if they know of problems or confusion in previous elections, Jim said.

"We're still in the organizational stage," he said. "We've circulated some volunteer sheets at a law school, and folks are e-mailing me wanting to volunteer. What we're trying to do is get as many volunteers as we can."

Oklahoma was chosen because it has a large Indian population and coalition leaders think the American Indian vote could decide the U.S. Senate race between Republican Tom Coburn and Democrat Brad Carson. Carson is a member of the Cherokee nation, the state's largest tribe.

Oklahoma has the second-largest Indian population, next to California.

Other states included in the project are Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, North Dakota, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Washington and Wisconsin.

Thompson said problems in South Dakota illustrate the importance of voter's access and education.

During one South Dakota election, partisan poll watchers stood in front of heavily Indian precincts and told voters to go home if they didn't have an ID, Thompson said.

But Thompson said South Dakota law allows people who have no ID to vote by signing an affidavit attesting to their identity.

"I haven't heard of any such problems in Oklahoma, but that's largely because we have not monitored it before," Thompson said.