Native groups mobilize across regions to boost voting

Efforts to improve Indigenous voter participation are underway amid persistent access barriers in several communities. In Nunavut’s Kivalliq region, election officials plan mobile polling and youth outreach after turnout fell to 15.2% in the 2025 board election. In South Dakota, a nonprofit is deploying legal observers to polling places to help Native voters navigate a new citizenship-proof registration law and other obstacles, while a national Native rights group is sending volunteers to additional states. In Alaska, Senate candidates Dan Sullivan and Mary Peltola are seeking Alaska Native support, even as President Trump’s administration has moved to challenge certification if Sullivan loses, citing possible ballot confusion. Early voting in Alaska is lagging in predominantly Native regions, and officials have reported that polling sites in at least 18 remote villages failed to open; communities also face longstanding problems involving distance, staffing, language access and mail delays.