Quote:
Originally Posted by Pooka
I have been hearing from some of the Indians in my neck of the woods that they are planning a big voter registration effort soon. There are supposed to be over 1,000,000 Native Americans that are not registered and the aim of this drive is to change that.
And when it comes to all the new laws that Republicans have put into place to suppress voter registrations, well, for Native Americans those laws don't exist. Most of the tribes have Treaties that go back over one hundred years that spell out what type of laws they are exempt from and it seems ANY law that prevents them from exercising their right to vote, or to register to vote, is null and void among anyone who is a tribal member.
I am sure there is a great deal more to this, and I am just passing on what I have been told over coffee.
And if anyone, up to and including the FBI, tries to infringe on their treaty rights the Indians have their own Police force to deal with this. Around here they are called the Lighthorse, and on tribal lands they are the ultimate decider of who is breaking the law. This was settled a few year ago in the Osage Nation when the FBI and DEA came in and tried to arrest a Medicine Man. Despite their good intentions they had to admit they had no authority on tribal lands covered by the Osage Treaty.
They don't ride horses though. They drive Ford Police Interceptors.
This could get interesting.
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You mean like wanting a photo ID or maybe wanting voters to be citizens? Oh the HORROR!
Calling this voter suppression is about as ridiculous as anything I can ever imagine.
As a former Election Judge, I did everything possible to see that ANYONE LEGALLY REGISTERED was able to cast their vote. It didn't matter if I knew full well they were voting for the other side. At the same time, people who were NOT LEGALLY registered to vote did NOT get a ballot, even if I knew they were on my side.
You might want to get involved in the process so that you can learn something about it.