By CHRIS AADLAND
PENDLETON – The Confederated Tribes of the Umatilla Indian Reservation held a voter registration event on Thursday evening to give the public an opportunity to check their registration status and learn about other resources ahead of the upcoming elections.
The event, held at Hamley Slickfork Saloon, featured live music, food and refreshments, election information and speakers who encouraged attendees to vote and shared information about upcoming deadlines, how to register, absentee voting procedures and the ballot measures voters will be asked to weigh in on this year.
The approximately 40 attendees were also able to check on their registration status, make changes or register to vote.
Speakers included Cheryl Myers, Oregon’s deputy secretary of state; CTUIR Tribal Court director Matthew Johnson, Umatilla County elections and records supervisor Stephen Craigen and representatives of Umatilla County’s Democratic and Republican parties.
“It’s just a monumental, consequential time in our political history,” Myers said, adding that Oregon had the highest voter turnout rate in the country for the most recent national elections. “Make your voice heard, make your opinion count.”
Myers also provide information on election security measures in Oregon and information about the five ballot measures voters will be able to vote on this year.
According to Craigen, many believe that their vote doesn’t count or have much of an impact. But those people are wrong, he said, as he shared stories about local elections in the area that have come down to one or two votes.
“Your vote does count,” Craigen said. “If you do not participate in democracy, you’re giving away your opportunity to have your voice heard.”
The event also focused on tribal member voter turnout amid the 100-year anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act, which ensured that any tribal member born in the U.S. would also be U.S. citizen and have the right to vote, said CTUIR Tribal Court director Matt Johnson.
However, across Indian Country Native people have continued to face obstacles to voting and encounter efforts aimed at suppressing Indigenous turnout, according to the Native American Rights Fund (NARF).
Johnson told attendees that many Indigenous people were still were prevented from voting in states that resisted the Indian Citizenship Act.
Some states didn’t begin allowing Native people to vote until nearly 1950 when forced by court rulings.
Yet many found ways to be involved in politics or have their voice heard, Johnson added.
“Native people have been pretty engaged and involved in the political process … for a long time, even in spite of not always having the ability to be full participants in that process,” he said. “I hope everybody will exercise their rights and go vote this November.”
The voter registration deadline in Oregon is Oct. 15.
For more voting and registration information, visit oregonvotes.gov or umatillacounty.gov/departments/elections.
