FORT YATES, N.D. – Voter turnout in rural North Dakota isn’t always a measure of how many people want to cast a ballot. Sometimes it’s a measure of how many people have access to a vehicle.
Sioux County is one area of North Dakota where that can be an issue. Many residents of the sparsely populated county, which overlaps with the Standing Rock Reservation, live up to 30 miles from the lone Election Day polling location at the county courthouse.
Pete Red Tomahawk, a voter who made the trip from Cannon Ball to cast a vote in person Tuesday morning, warned election workers that lack of access to transportation could keep voters away from the ballot box.
“It’s a burden to travel 30 miles in order to vote,” Red Tomahawk said in an interview, recalling a time Cannon Ball had its own polling site in years past. “I don’t think you’re going to get that many.”
This election season, the Sioux County auditor tried something new to improve voting access for its residents: pop-up absentee voting stations.
Sioux County is a vote-by-mail county, according to Sioux County Auditor Angela Eagle, which means residents are automatically mailed applications to vote absentee.
The courthouse is also where the county’s only ballot dropbox is located, according to the North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office.
Lots of community members send their ballots through the mail, though many feel more comfortable or find it more convenient to vote in person, Eagle said.
Beginning during the primary, the Sioux County Auditor’s Office started hosting what it calls “absentee voting days” in different Standing Rock communities.
The goal was to provide a central place for people to turn in their absentee voting applications, get their ballots and vote. The office was also able to provide absentee applications to those who had not received them.
The office hosted another round of absentee voting days last week for the general election. Staff visited Porcupine and Selfridge on Oct. 28, and Solen and Cannon Ball on Oct. 29.
Eagle said the absentee voting locations are a more practical and cost-effective alternative to full-fledged polling sites.
Eagle said having polling sites in those communities would require the auditor’s office to hire more poll workers, as well as to transport and set up additional voting technology.
The voters who did make the trip to the Sioux County Courthouse on Election Day received a warm welcome, not only from election workers but also from North Dakota Native Vote, an advocacy organization striving to improve Native American voter turnout. Members of the organization served hot chocolate and gave away T-shirts to voters in a tent outside the courthouse. The check-in process for voters ran smoothly and lines were nearly nonexistent Tuesday morning.
Eagle said her office saw especially high voter turnout from Selfridge during the outreach events for absentee voters. Voters weren’t as engaged in the other three communities, she said.
The Selfridge Post Office was destroyed in a fire earlier this year. Eagle said post office boxes have been set up in Selfridge so residents can still get mail service. Community members voiced concerns to the county commission about how that was going to affect their ability to vote, Eagle said.
Those concerns were echoed by voters who traveled to Fort Yates to cast a ballot on election day.
“Most of the town don’t have cars,” said Charisma Weed Agard, a Selfridge resident who traveled to Fort Yates with her sister, Sabra Weed Agard, to vote for the first time.
Nanette Dahle lives halfway between Selfridge and Fort Yates. She has voted in every election since she turned 18 in 1973, so she’s used to the drive.
Several voters exiting the polling site attributed their enthusiasm to the stakes of the presidential election. Marie Brown hasn’t voted in the last four presidential elections because she feels her ballot is “worthless” as long as the Electoral College exists. But the Porcupine resident borrowed her daughter’s car this year specifically to make the trip to vote for Kamala Harris.
“Plus I want to legalize marijuana so I can go into business,” Brown said with a laugh. She wasn’t the only voter to cite Measure 5, the attempt to legalize recreational marijuana for adults, as a reason for their enthusiasm.
Women’s rights was another issue cited by multiple voters at Standing Rock. Dahle said it was the single biggest reason she voted for Harris: “She’s for women and I care about the women in my family.” Devin Black Fox, old enough to vote for the first time, likewise said he voted for Harris in large part because she supports abortion rights.
“I think we should trust the women to know what to do with their bodies,” said Black Fox.
Although Sioux County voters tend to choose Democrats for president, not all voters cast their ballots for Harris Tuesday. Michelle Harrison voted for Donald Trump and cited his positions on the border, crime, inflation and foreign wars as reasons why she supported the GOP nominee.
Multiple voters suggested an alternative approach to consider in future elections: Set up a transit system, or an Uber-like service, to ferry voters to and from the polling site. As it is, many voters said they’re worried residents who don’t own a car are being disenfranchised.
“If you have a car, you can vote,” said Earlwin Yellow Hammer Sr. of Cannon Ball. “If you don’t have a car, you can’t.”
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE.
GET THE MORNING HEADLINES.
