Wisconsin Native Vote is engaging voters in a variety of ways this election season to ensure Native voices are heard on Nov. 5 – WisPolitics

WISCONSIN – This election, Wisconsin Native Vote plans to increase voter turnout among Wisconsin’s tribal communities by engaging voters in a variety of ways, including billboards, art installations, events, canvassing, mail pieces, and more. 

Wisconsin is home to over 70,000 Native people of voting age and voter turnout in these communities has been on the rise in recent years. Through nonpartisan efforts, Wisconsin Native Vote works to combat historic voter disenfranchisement and contemporary barriers to voting by educating voters, registering people to vote, and working to improve policies that impact Native communities’ access to the polls. Most importantly, Native Vote is making sure Native voices are heard at the ballot box.

From now until Nov. 5, the Wisconsin Native Vote team is engaging voters with tactics including:

• Installing 12 billboards near tribal communities around the state featuring local people we work with from those communities. See images here. 
• Working with local artists to install murals on basketball courts on the Menominee and Bad River reservations. We will be hosting basketball tournaments and voter outreach events at each location at the end of October. The artists creating the murals are Caitlin Newago, Bad River Ojibwe, and Alex Golcky, Menominee and Ho-Chunk.
• Tabling at community events and pow wows
• Amplifying the voting event Oneida Nation is hosting with Dallas Goldtooth on Oct. 15
• Hosting community events, including Black Light Bingo with the Indian Council of the Elderly in October
• Canvassing in tribal communities and on reservations around the state
• Working with tribal nations to mail postcards to tribal members in the weeks leading up to the election
• Running paid digital advertisements featuring community members we work with 

Amongst the top issues Native communities are concerned about are the opioid epidemic, tribal sovereignty, and protection of the waters. 

Reach out to our team if you are interested in covering upcoming Wisconsin Native vote events or interviewing our staff. See our Wisconsin Native Vote media kit here.