About 4,000 new Indian voters registered and participated in the 2002 general election in Bennett County, South Dakota, and more Indian voters are being sought.

The LaCreek Civil Rights Committee targeted Indian voters in hopes of unseating a county sheriff seen as biased against Indians. The campaign worked -- the sheriff was voted out of office.

The committee now hopes to work with Cecilia Fire Thunder, the president of the Oglala Sioux Tribe, to boost the effort. Fire Thunder agrees that getting more Indians to register and vote is a priority and she has already met with state Democratic officials.

"The people we're trying to reach don't know who John Kennedy is. This is not about the Vietnam War anymore. We've got people of voting age who were not born when Kennedy was president," Fire Thunder told The Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

Get the Story:
Panel, tribe going after voters (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 1/23)

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