Who We Are:
The Native Vote Initiative (NVI) is a collaboration of Alaska Native Non-Profits, Alaska Native Regional and Village Corporations, Regional Non-Profits, and Tribes with the purpose to address voting disparities, decreasing institutional and chronic problems to voting in rural Alaskan communities, and create meaningful communications, education, and dialogue through a robust year-round get out the vote initiative.
The Partners:
The Native Vote Initiative partnership includes the Alaska Federation of Natives (AFN), Get Out the Native Vote (GOTNV), Alaska Regional Association (ARA), Interior Native Votes, Southcentral Foundation (SCF), Alaska Native Tribal Health Consortium (ANTHC), First Alaskans Institute (FAI), Cook Inlet Tribal Council (CITC), Native Movement (NM), Native Peoples Action Community Fund (NPACF), Rural Indigenous Outreach Team (RIO), Koniag, Tlingit & Haida Central Council (T&H), Sealaska, YK GOTNV Coalition, Calista, United Tribes of Bristol Bay (UTBB), and more continue to join this collaborative effort..
Our Purpose and Goals:
A healthy democracy requires full participation of Alaskans of all languages, geographies, abilities, and identities. To accomplish our bold and necessary mission of increasing election turnout across the state with robust voter education and outreach efforts to develop more informed, empowered and confident voters, we minimize barriers to voting of anticipated problems, and in real-time developments. We have built an impressive statewide partnership with organizations across Alaska and in Indian Country who share in this mission and vision.
NVI works in partnership to engage and increase voter turnout with our under-represented constituencies, address and advocate for policy reforms, and be a resource for our people and communities. All our communities deserve to have their voices heard in every single election, from local to state, federal and Tribal elections, and we must address the inequity and injustice that has been perpetuated for generations. We have the vision and mission to make system changes with a goal near universal voter turnout of our Alaska Native people who now represent a quarter of the state of Alaska’s vote.
Our goal is to build power for self-determination by engaging directly with our communities through voter contact led by voter engagement specialists. By deepening our understanding of voters, we aim to address persistent voter apathy and implement consistent communication and education strategy. This includes distributing educational materials, hosting events and trainings, and expanding community capacity and access to critical funding. We will also leverage tools like the census and federal surveys, which directly influence funding allocations—including emergency response resources—and play a vital role in redistricting and apportionment.
It is our intention to continue to reach out and add more partners to our roundtable, to grow our boots on the ground organizing, integrate new ideas and best practices, and to provide the materials we create with other organizations, communities, Tribes, Native Corporations and more.
Action & Tactics:
- Direct Voter Contact and Community Building – The AFN Navigators, GOTNV’s Youth Ambassadors, RIO Team, Interior Native Vote Ambassador program, and more, are already set up to engage with our communities through direct organizing. Our experience has already demonstrated that hiring people within the community and the region is one of the most successful tactics, one that needs growth and effectiveness.
- Voter Education – Voter Guides & Regional Voting Toolkits were identified as a gap in our communities as voters sighted not knowing who (or what) was on the ballot or information on voting in general. We recognized development for more outreach with really specific information for each region was needed and are key to ensuring a confident voter’s plan to vote.
- Census & Federal Surveys – Adding our voice to the importance of being counted can make a big difference to the reluctance and distrust often displayed in the Native community about engaging in federal studies. Being present and participating in the counting process in truthful ways will pay off in better representation, policies, funding and emergency response. It starts with saying we are here from house to village to town and to road-systems. We intend to Get Out the Count (GOTC) the way we are working to GOTV.
- Voting Focus Groups – the intent is to understand why there is a demonstrable level of voter apathy. Now that it has been identified, we need to figure out what issues and messaging will engage our people in the voting process to design our communications around it in culturally appropriate and appealing ways.
- Communications – building and implementing a strident voter engagement plan to include video, radio (including CB), mail, and digital to increase information with takeaways from our focus groups and requests from the community.
- Events – Building trust within our communities starts with showing up, listening, and being a resource. At our events we will share non-partisan information on voting, who and what is on the ballot, and work with the community to address any barriers to voting. This will help to activate and engage Alaskans in a way we know our communities are more likely to respond and show up.
- Increase Volunteers & Poll Workers – We are working with the Division of Elections to more effectively recruit, train and retain volunteers for poll work, translations, and other voter education to add to voter confidence.
- Infusing Art and Media – art speaks to us in a different way and appeals to our Indigenous ways of communicating. Art and culturally appropriate approaches may reach our audience the way presentations may not.
- Youth Civics & Election Workforce Building – What began as a joint federal grant with the Alaska Council of School Administrators evolved into GOTNV bringing the Democracy in Action component to the Civic Education for Rural Alaska Students initiative. This partnership granted us unprecedented access to school district leadership—opening classroom doors, engaging staff and parents, and reaching captive student audiences. Through this effort we amplified the Division of Elections’ Youth at the Booth program. The value of active citizenry resonated with these students, planting seeds for a new generation of public servants and super voters.
- Address barriers in Election, USPS Workforce Development & Air Carriers – Even though same-day elections in small and remote villages operate as local precincts, ballots still require transportation—much like Vote-By-Mail. Without the support of Post Offices and Air Carriers, elections simply cannot happen. These two tiers complete the institutional backbone of election operations. However, coordination among the three critical tiers—precincts, postal services, and air carriers—is often lacking, hindering the effectiveness of elections in Region IV and other roadless areas of the state. We are actively working across all three tiers to identify vulnerable communities, ensure adequate precinct staffing, engage with local post offices, and emphasize to air carriers the urgency of transporting this vital cargo on election day.