Many Canadians are anxiously watching the lead-up to america presidential election which takes place on Tuesday, November 5. However for some Americans, attending to the polls to vote generally is a problem for sure communities.
Native People are one such group the place rules and distance could make it troublesome to forged a poll. Enter Allie Younger, a Navajo, or Diné, based mostly in Arizona, who’s utilizing her tradition’s ardour for the horse to get members of her reservation and others to polling stations.
Younger is the organizer of Journey to the Polls, which she launched in 2020. This yr the occasion will see 100 Indigenous riders journey to an Arizona polling station on horseback on election day.
“When one mounts a horse and is in rhythm with the horse, that reconnection occurs,” Younger, who can be the founding father of the Indigenous-led civic engagement program Shield the Sacred, advised The Guardian. “So after we’re linked with the horse, we’re then reconnected to Mom Earth and reminded of our cultural values and what we’re preventing for, what we’re defending.”
One of many Shield the Sacred consciousness initiatives was the latest Stroll to the Polls, led by actor Mark Ruffalo and different particular visitors. (@protectsacred Instagram picture/Larry Worth)
Including to the necessity to enhance turnout amongst Indigenous voters is the worry that ought to Donald Trump and the Republicans win the presidency, then Venture 2025 (one thing the Trump camp denies any involvement with) might threaten tribal sovereignty and even enable fossil gas drilling on tribal lands.
Younger and her advocacy work is taken into account one of many causes Native American voters turned red-state Arizona blue within the 2020 federal election. In accordance with knowledge, in 2020 almost 90% of the 67,000 Navajo Nation eligible voters forged a poll for Joe Biden.
Younger advised the Guardian that she hopes the success of the Journey to the Polls marketing campaign in 2020 and 2022 will encourage “the best Native turnout ever” within the 2024 election. This yr, the marketing campaign has expanded its attain with occasions akin to skateboarding and bull-riding competitions, heavy steel and nation music live shows, and a Stroll to the Polls with superstar visitors.
The Journey to the Polls marketing campaign’s aim in 2024 is to register 1,500 new voters throughout their in-person initiatives and greater than 5,000 voters by way of on-line efforts.
“I imagine that we began a motion across the energy of the Native vote,” provides Younger.
