Tex Hall praises Indian turnout for N.D. caucuses

Politics
Tex Hall praises Indian turnout for N.D. caucuses
Friday, February 6, 2004

News from the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation in North Dakota.

New Town, N.D. - Chairman Tex G. Hall said that the MHA Nation's Get-out-the-vote team feverishly worked the phones and went door-to-door as he sat for interviews with radio stations on Monday to boost Native Americans to a record turnout on February 3, the day of the North Dakota Presidential Caucuses.

The record Native American turnout was so unprecedented that Indian voters in District 4, located on the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Nation, cast the most votes of any district in the State. Indian voters in District 4 cast 38% more votes than the voters in the district with the second largest turnout, district 44, located in Fargo, North Dakota's largest city.

Amazingly, poll results and tribal manual canvassing reveal that for the first time in statewide history, Native Voters cast over 11.7% of the total votes cast in an election. Overall, the North Dakota caucuses attracted almost five times as many voters as they did in 2000. About 2,200 people took part in the caucuses four years ago; on Tuesday, 10,508 people voted. Out of that, approximately 1230 Native votes were cast on the four major reservations and in the seven largest cities.

Hall said, "The 2000 Presidential election proved that out of the millions of votes cast, a President can be elected by only 500 or so votes. Indian Country has to be ready to go to the polls and re-claim the right to determine our own destiny. If we don't, we lose. It's just that simple."

Hall said that, "What happened at the polls on Tuesday proves that Indian Country is ready to go to battle. And we are going to continue to fight in each of our home states right through to the General Election."

"The one great decision which Indian Country must make in the coming 9 months is which candidate, which party, which platform offers the best hope for a stronger Native America?"

Hall added that, "too many of our veterans have gone to war and sacrificed themselves for us to take this basic responsibility of a democracy for granted. Unfortunately, the leadership of this Country has consistently failed to recognize the contributions of our Indian veterans."

Hall sponsored Get-Out-The-Vote radio ads starting the week before the North Dakota Caucuses on radio stations on the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Reservation, the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation and the Mandan, Hidatsa & Arikara Reservation.

Hall's efforts are part of a larger GOTV effort named "Native Vote 2004", an initiative he created through the National Congress of American Indians. Hall is now in his second term as the President of the NCAI.

Hall recently announced in his annual State of the Indian Nations Address in Washington, D.C. that Native Vote 2004 intends to get 1 million Native American voters to the polls in November. Hall reminded his audience that, "A large Native turnout in key swing states such as Arizona, New Mexico, Minnesota, Washington, Oregon, Michigan, Wisconsin, North Dakota and Oklahoma may likely determine who controls the White House and Senate."

Hall ended by saying that, "this is the year that the national parties are going to have to finally start working with Indian Country and actually start campaigning on the reservations."

Relevant Links:
Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara Nation - http://www.mhanation.com