by Katie Cheung
To feel like one’s voice is heard and that one’s opinion matters is essential to a functioning democratic nation. In elections around the world, the right to vote is a privilege coveted by all members of society. The ability to cast a ballot is a fundamental right that everyone should hold. However, having suffered colonization, genocide, and institutionalized racism for centuries, Indigenous people face innumerable obstacles surrounding voting. Specifically in the United States, South America, and Australia, Indigenous people’s voices are grossly underrepresented due to many factors such as low voter turnout, illiteracy, inability to travel to polling sites, and widespread disenfranchisement.
In the United States alone, many facts that demonstrate the systematic disenfranchisement of Indigenous people. First, Native Americans were not considered US citizens until 1924, and many states such as North and South Dakota enforced laws that prevented Native Americans from voting well into the 1950s. Even today, tribal members can acquire ID cards through their nations or the Bureau of Indian Affairs which can be used to open bank accounts or pass through airport security. However, these cards can no longer be used to vote, highlighting the blatant voter suppression that continues to plague Native Americans.
For those who can vote, many do not exercise their right due to factors such as widespread poverty, lack of time, and the inconvenient distance and insufficient transportation to and from polling locations. These barriers were magnified by the COVID-19 pandemic, which required voting by mail to ensure Indigenous ballots were completed and counted during the 2020 presidential election. However, the slow-moving nature of mail on large reservations and the presence of few post offices makes voting by mail incredibly inaccessible. For example, the Rosebud Indian Reservation in Mission, South Dakota covers approximately 2,000 square miles, but contains only four post offices. OJ Semans, co-founder of an advocacy group called Four Directions commented that, “Home mail delivery is rare on Rosebud Indian Reservation, so people rely on post office boxes, some making a roundtrip of over 60 miles (95 kilometers) to check their mail or to vote.” This process is further complicated as many families do not have reliable transportation. These circumstances result in shockingly low Native American voter turnout. According to the Associated Press analysis of Democratic primaries in South Dakota which relied heavily on mail-in voting, “turnout was 10% lower among voters who lived in counties with a majority American Indian population and at least 95% of the county on reservation land.” Furthermore, just 14% of registered voters casted ballots in Oglala Lakota County, the lowest voter turnout ever in the state during the 2020 Democratic primaries. In short, obstacles such as the lack of post offices and stable transportation bar Native Americans from casting their ballot, leading to overall low voter turnout. With their ballots left uncounted, their voices regarding policies that affect their way of life are left unheard.
In South America, the Indigeneous population also suffer from low voter turnout, as they face similar barriers when attempting to vote. As of 2016, over 800 different Indigenous peoples inhabit South America, with a total population of 45 million people. In general, the Indigenous population makes up a significant portion of a nation’s total population as seen in Bolivia or Guatemala (41-60%). In Guatemala’s 1990 and 1995 presidential and legislative elections, a recent study found that a higher proportion of the population that is indigenous was associated with a statistically lower voter turnout at the municipal level. In Mexico, Bolivia, and Ecuador, voter turnout has also tended to be lower in indigenous municipalities than in nonindigenous ones. For example, in the 2000 Mexican elections, only 59.5% of the population over 18 years old voted in communities that were majority Indigenous, as opposed to 64.4% in communities where Indigenous people were the minority. Low voting rates are due to the absence of Spanish literacy, housing in rural areas, financial qualifications for voter registration, and the failure of major political parties to accurately represent indigenous beliefs. Bolivian citizens must obtain identity cards in order to vote, but these cards are not affordable or easily accessible in areas where tribal members live. Also, politicians do not campaign or hold rallies on reservations, and they fail to empathize with Indigenous voters through ads. Therefore, Indigenous people may not (register to) vote because they do not believe any party or candidate will advocate for their needs. In summary, low voter participation continues to harm Indigenous South Americans as their number of ballots cast fails to accurately represent the entire Indigenous population.
Finally, Indigenous Australians– specifically the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples– are other marginalized groups who have suffered from low voter turnout after a hard fought battle for suffrage. The Commonwealth Law of 1957 declared most Indigenous Western Australians to be wards of the state. This label meant these people required government protection and were not permitted to vote. Eventually in March of 1962, the federal right to vote was granted to Indigenous Australians, but Queensland did not allow first Australians to vote until 1965. As of 2016, only 58% of Indigenous Australians are registered to vote according to the Australian Electoral Commission (AEC). However, many Indigenous leaders believe that only 20-30% of Indigenous Australians registered actually cast their ballots. Furthermore, once all Indigenous Australians finally became enfranchised, they still faced countless obstacles on the path to having their ballot be counted. For example, many Indigenous families are not recognized by the AEC because they live in remote areas where they do not have appropriate addresses. Without a street address, eligible voters cannot register or receive mail in ballots. Similarly to Indigenous South Americans, many Aboriginal voters are illiterate or distrusting of the federal government, resulting in their disengagement from politics. Without fail, these factors result in low voter turnout. During the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples elections, less than 13.5% of eligible voters casted a vote, even though this governmental body aims to represent the national views of Aboriginal people. To conclude, a hard fought battle to attain Indigenous Australian enfranchisement has failed to increase widespread voting, as distrust of the federal government and illiteracy among other factors repel Aboriginals from voting.
To summarize, Indigenous people’s voices and opinions in the United States, South America, and Australia are blatantly underrepresented. Among many factors, a lack of resources such as post offices, illiteracy in national languages, and rural housing lead to extensive disenfranchisement which directly causes significantly low voter turnout. However, organizations such as the Native Vote Campaign and the Movement Voter Project work diligently to extend the ability to vote to all Native Americans. Additionally, in Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, Indigenous political parties have emerged for the first time in history, which will broaden political participation among Indigenous voters. Although millions of Indigenous people around the world struggle to have their point of view acknowledged through legislative processes, there are reasons to be hopeful.