Advocates seize AFN convention as opportunity to rally the Native vote

A person could barely move a few yards at the Alaska Federation of Natives convention in Anchorage last week without bumping into a message to vote.

Daniella Tebib was working the ground at the artisans’ market on the first floor.

“Hello! Do you guys have a plan to vote this November?” she asked of passers-by

“In November?” a man responded, a little tentative. “Everybody’s going to vote, right?”

“I hope so. That’s the goal,” Tebib said, thrusting a brochure at him. “Would you like some more information?”

Tebib, a volunteer for Congresswoman Mary Peltola’s re-election campaign, sweetened her pitch with invitations to spin the prize wheel at the Peltola booth for t-shirts, hats and other campaign swag.

The AFN convention is in October, and in election years, there’s always some emphasis on voting. But this year, AFN co-chair Joe Nelson said the convention is especially focused on encouraging a strong Native vote.

“Yes, because we know there are forces in play that are trying to marginalize our communities,” he said.

For Nelson and other AFN leaders, an effort to suppress Native votes came into clear view this month, when a pair of Republican legislators were guests on a conservative talk radio show. State House Speaker Cathy Tilton, R-Wasilla, told host Michael Dukes that she and fellow Republicans killed a bill that would have eliminated the witness signature requirement on mail-in ballots, which she acknowledged is a barrier for rural voters.

“The changes in that bill definitely would’ve leaned the election towards, you know, towards Mary Peltola, to be quite honest,” Tilton said during the broadcast. 

Tilton did not respond to an interview request for this story. 

Nelson said Alaska Native voters need to show up in huge numbers to overcome barriers like the signature requirement. He’s passionate about re-electing Peltola, the first Alaska Native person elected to Congress — and, incidentally, Nelson’s ex-wife. He’s also plugging a “no” vote on Ballot Measure 2. That’s the measure that would repeal Alaska’s open primary and ranked choice voting. Nelson said Alaska’s current voting method helps eliminate partisan gridlock and serves most Alaska Native voters, who he describes as common-sense moderates.

“We’re, you know, 17-ish percent of the population, 120,000-plus Alaska Natives,” he said. “If we actually aligned on all of our things and showed up and voted, there would be no denying that our vote actually matters.”

The No on 2 campaign was one of the convention sponsors this year, so that message was on banners, pencils, buttons and brochures.

(The Yes on 2 campaign wasn’t present at the convention, but supporters of repeal say that ranked chance voting is confusing and that the open primary is unfair to conservatives.)

Some of the get-out-the vote effort was generic, not promoting any particular candidate.

Shelley Cotton, chief strategy director of United Tribes of Bristol Bay, was reeling in shoppers at the AFN artisans market with a non-partisan approach. She invited voters to sign a pledge to vote, with check boxes to indicate they’d welcome reminder messages or translation services.

“Getting out the vote is really important for us, because we want Native people to decide who’s best for our people and for those people to be in position so we can work with them as well doing our advocacy work,” she said.

Cotton said United Tribes of Bristol Bay has 11 interns spread out in their region, to engage communities and make sure everyone knows when and where to vote. 

Upstairs, Michelle Sparck beamed as she handed out indigenous-specific “I vote” buttons. 

“Here we go,” Sparck said, sizing up one young family. “That’s for your baby: ‘future Alaska Native voter.’ YayI”

Sparck leads the non-partisan Get out the Native Vote. She has labored largely alone in past years. Not this time. Several Alaska Native organizations pitched in so that she could hire 30 workers for the election season, to spread the word. And, Sparck said, they’re determined not to see a repeat of what happened in the primary, where voting stations didn’t open in some rural villages, for lack of poll workers.

“We’re actually ready to fly out our volunteers to any vulnerable precinct that does not have an election worker signed up, lined up, or will fall out before Election Day on Nov. 5,” she said.

A few yards away, convention participants thronged to a Sealaska table with Native-themed voting stickers and signs. “Aunties vote” was particularly popular.

“We’re not endorsing any candidates here, but we’re just making sure that Alaska Natives have a plan to get to the polls and cast their vote,” Christian Ḵaat’aawu Gomez of Juneau said, “because we know that our voices need to be heard and that we have a huge impact.”

Near him a poster summed up the aspiration: “Voting is our way of life.”