Native Voice One Podcast

Canadian official discusses number of murdered and missing Indigenous women

Buffalo Field Campaign organizes rallies near Yellowstone National Park

Hundreds of students expected to take part in junior Native youth olympics

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THIS WEEK IT’S Nevada. And it’s a state that favors Native American voters. This is Trahant Reports.

Primary elections and caucuses are quite different. In a caucus, the winner will be determined by a long list of rules ranging from geography to the number of people who voted in the last election.

So far voters have had a chance to weigh in on presidential candidates with both a caucus — in Iowa — and a primary in New Hampshire. But those states are nearly all white. Nevada on the other hand represents the diversity that America is becoming.

Nevada voters were about 65 percent white in 2012.  This year’s voters are projected to drop to about 60 percent. Those numbers make it likely for a winning coalition to include white voters (a third or so) plus significant majorities from Latino, African American, Asian American and Native Americans.  And that’s the makeup of the general election; the state’s Democratic Party is significantly more diverse.

Let’s be clear about the caucus system. It’s not democratic. Voters won’t show up at the polls in huge numbers. Instead it will be more like a neighborhood jam session where someone from a community is elected a delegate to a county convention. That will happen on April 2. Then at those meetings more delegates are elected to the state’s party convention. Then at those meetings more delegates are elected to the state party convention. Then another vote selecting delegates to the Democratic National Convention in July.

So it’s possible for a candidate to have a strong showing on “caucus day” and then end up with fewer delegates than the other side. That’s exactly what happened eight years ago when Hillary Clinton won the Nevada caucus (with 51 percent of the vote) only to earn three fewer delegates than Barack Obama.

The rules are written to favor delegates from rural counties — and in Nevada that means more say for American Indian voters.

The Walker River Paiute Reservation is one winner in the caucus system.

Most of the tribe’s membership lives near Schurz in Mineral County, roughly 1,200 people. In 2008 only 75 people attended the caucus yet under party rules that county’s vote counts more than 75 people, say, Reno. So if tribal members show up, they get to pick the winner in Mineral County.

There are 27 tribes in Nevada, and, unlike most states, that includes tribal governments that are based both in rural and urban areas, such as Reno and Las Vegas.

Nevada is becoming more and more a state that favors Democrats because of the population growth in urban areas — and the increasing diversity of the state.

Both the Hillary Clinton and the Bernie Sanders campaigns say they are organized across the state and in tribal communities. The Clinton campaign has been in Nevada for months and has had listening sessions across the state. But which side is more organized, both for the caucus,  and for the delegate selection process that follows? We won’t know that answer until the summer.

I am Mark Trahant reporting.

 

Canadian government wraps up meetings with families of missing and murdered Indigenous women

Oklahoma tribes awarded millions of dollars in federal funds for housing and construction needs

New Mexico Indian affairs committee passes memorials for museum and cultural items protection

Atlanta Dream names Red Lake Lady Warriors as Addie Award winner for exceptional performance

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Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia leaves a mixed legacy on Native American issues.

Winona LaDuke has name recognition on her side in the White Earth race.

The Heard Museum crowns new Hoop Dance champions.

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First Nation leader calls for name change of national park, which honors military general 

South Dakota state lawmakers work to improve educational success of Native students

Alaska’s Lt. Governor Byron Mallott receives NCAI's Native American Leadership Award

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Northwest tribal leaders continue to work on Klamath Basin water plans despite failure in Congress

Navajo Nation leaders to sign veterans act to involve the tribe’s veterans more directly in policymaking

Wisconsin tribes prepare to take their priorities to the state legislature for State of the Tribes address

U.S. Senate Committee on Indian Affairs chair says work needs to continue on housing issues

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Rosebud Sioux Tribe researches ways to repatriate remains from Carlisle Indian School

Navajo Nation continues to determine impacts of mine waste spill as federal report released

White House touts Obama's 2017 budget proposal as standing with Indian Country

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Families of missing and murdered Indigenous women express anger at Winnipeg meetings

Alaska Native people discuss the word Eskimo after Alaska Airline's new look is criticized 

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Democratic presidential candidates Sen. Bernie Sanders, of Vermont, left, and Hillary Rodham Clinton talk before the CNN Democratic presidential debate Tuesday, Oct. 13, 2015, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/David Becker)

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Democrats running for president are starting to make their case to Native American voters.

This is Trahant Reports.

Except for one precinct in Iowa there has not been a lot of reason to court Native voters. Iowa's Native American population is 1/2 of 1 percent. New Hampshire is 2/10th of one percent. These states do not look like the rest of the country.

But Nevada, where Democrats will caucus on Feb. 20, is even more diverse than the rest of the country.

Brookings Institute scholar William Frey describes Nevada as “the epitome of a state that witnessed an explosion of diversity in recent decades. In 2000 its electorate was 76 percent white, compared with 58 percent now.”

So both Democratic campaigns are in Native communities urging people to participate in their caucus. To win a caucus, you have to get people to go to a meeting; it’s not quite as simple as casting a ballot.

The Clinton campaign has had Native American advisors since last fall when Hillary Clinton addressed members of the National Congress of American Indians via YouTube.

Clinton said:

“Hello NCAI … As Senator I cosponsored legislation to improve health care for American Indians. I worked to improve tribal colleges and other Native institutions. As Secretary of State, I advocated for the U.S. to endorse the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. I did these things because the United States has a sacred trust with Native Americans and we need to do a much better job of keeping that trust. You are our neighbors, our friends, our fellow Americans.You deserve a president who will honor your sovereignty, learn from the past, and fight for your futures. That’s exactly the kind of president I will be.”

The Clinton campaign has three senior Native American policy advisers, Rion Ramierz Jr., Holly Cook Macarro, and Charlie Galbraith.

Now the Sanders campaign has its team in place.

At a recent meeting of the Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians, Nicole Willis was introduced as a special advisor to the Bernie Sanders campaign. Willis is a member of the Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Reservation in Oregon, she has worked for the Obama administration, and was with the Obama campaign.

She said Sanders has already staked out positions. If elected president, Sanders will continue with the annual Tribal Nations Conference started by President Obama, hire a senior Native American advisor on at the White House, and expand the Violence Against Women Act. Sanders has also said he would find additional money for the Generation Indigenous initiative.

Sanders also promised that tribes would have a seat on the table on a broad set of issues. In the first 100 days he said there would be a summit on climate change and tribes would be full participants.

This is Mark Trahant reporting.