Tuesday is National Voter Registration Day. The week of Sept. 23-29 is Native Vote Action Week.

Both are aiming to raise awareness about the importance of voting and make sure it’s easier for everyone to get out and make sure their voices heard come November.

ICTMN’s Mark Trahant has a breakdown of Native Vote week and its importance. According to ICTMN, more than 35,000 people in 130 communities across the country are participating in the events.

“Now is a crucial time for Indian country to work together to get Native Voters registered and ready to go to make our voice heard on November 6th as we participate in national and state elections,” National Congress of American Indians President Jefferson Keel said. Native Vote Action Week is a response to Keel’s call during the January 2012 State of Indian Nations, for the largest Native voter turnout in history. “The Native vote counts for our people, our rights, and our culture. We must raise our voice and remember, that every Native vote counts.”

. . .

Native Vote events this week include registration drives at tribal colleges, tribal offices and health centers.

What are you waiting for? Registration and voting is easy.

One partner in the Native Vote campaign is TurboVote. There is a voter registration wizard on the Native Vote Facebook page. The idea is to “make voting by mail as easy as renting a DVD from Netflix. Or sign up at the turbovote.org and never miss another election!”

The software works as promised. It’s no different than signing up for Netflix or any other commercial account. The next step is that would-be-voters will get a registration form in the mail along with a prepaid envelope. Sign and you’re done.

It’s the same for voting. Once registered another form will be sent asking for an absentee ballot. Sign it, send it off in a pre-printed, stamped envelope and you’re done.

E-mails, texts and other reminders will be sent to make sure that ballot gets in the mail.

Jenna Cederberg