The Magazine of The Sierra Club
Native Americans in Nevada Mobilize to Protect Their Right to Vote
Tribal organizers turn out new voters with a Get Out the Native Vote campaign
Photos by Nina Riggio
Tziavi Melendez, 16, right, and her sister Pasituva Melendez, 13, left, film a video in their regalia for TikTok to promote a get-out-the-Native-vote message in their backyard in Sparks, Nevada, the night before Election Day.
Maria Martinez, 22, is a first-time Native voter and enrolled Fallon Paiute Shoshone member living on the Walker River Reservation in Schurz, Nevada. "I think the Native vote matters because there's a lot of tribes. We're a state, we're a majority, and once we realize our power, we can change a lot of things." Martinez wants candidates to keep their word on issues like missing and murdered Indigenous women.
Alexceah Emm, 19, is a first-time voter on the Walker River Paiute Reservation in Schurz, Nevada. Emm said she wasn't going to vote until chairwoman Amber Torres specifically asked how she was getting involved. "As Natives, I think we are sort of left out of the conversation, and I felt I should vote because one vote has a lot of power on the rez," she said the day before the election.
"We are one of those really small communities, and here in Walker River we take voting seriously," said chairwoman Amber Torres on Election Day at the Walker River Paiute Reservation. "Our elders love to show up on voting days because we know what it took for our ancestors to get the right to vote. They sacrificed so much, and we understand that."
Members of the Native Youth Council dance for a Facebook live stream at a polling site on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation in Nixon, Nevada, on November 3.
Arlene Loutas, 73, voted proudly at the polling site in Schurz, Nevada, on the Walker River Paiute Reservation. "I'm full Paiute, and I know this is just something I had to do."
Alyssa Songoi, 21, is a first-time voter and is an enrolled member with the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe in Fallon, Nevada. "Our ancestors fought for our right to vote. It impacts the lives of everyone, from the smallest to the elders. My tribal community will be impacted by these decisions." Songoi believes her vote will help push for more Native leadership down the road, and she wants more Native voices to be heard.
Toni Burton, left, and Leona Minerad, right, wait in line for an "Indian taco" offered by the Nevada Native Vote Project after they voted in Fallon, Nevada, on November 3. The project also gave out T-shirts and stickers. Both women work in education with the Fallon Paiute Shoshone Tribe.
Elliot Yesslith got his photo taken at a photobooth set up by the Nevada Native Vote Project.
Gabe Frazier, 19, is a first-time voter on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation in Nixon, Nevada. "As of now, the US is in shambles," he said. "We need someone to put us back on the right path. I think the young vote matters, because I think our voices are suppressed right now." Native groups may be small, he said, but, "We're still here. People believe Natives are a myth, but we're still here. If we go for a certain party over another, that matters."
Emma Williams, 26, and her daughter Powma, eight, stand outside the poll site on the Pyramid Lake Paiute Reservation in Nixon, Nevada. "The choices we make will affect us in the long run. They will affect my kids," said Williams, a first-time voter.
Amber Torres, chairwoman for the Walker River Paiute Reservation, stands near her office on Election Day in Schurz, Nevada. "It's been hard to get the people out of that historical trauma thinking, in that their vote doesn't count."
Alyssa Vazquez is 22 and a first-time Native voter. She helped her grandmother and great-grandmother run the polling site on the Walker River Reservation. "The youth need to be heard. I believe we can't complain about politics if you haven't gotten your vote out."
David McFalls is 46 years old and a first-time voter on the Walker River Reservation, where he has lived for the past 20-plus years. "I think this election is very important to the American people, more so than any other. Going forward, I would love to see all races and nationalities live as one and to have their voices heard."
Loretta Burden, 71, gets her photo taken at a photobooth set up by the Nevada Native Vote Project. "It's time for a change!" she said.
Brian Melendez, one of the lead organizers with the Nevada Native Vote Project, sits in his backyard a few days before the presidential election, around which he has been organizing for months. Melendez grew up on the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony reservation and has been working to get more Natives to the polls this election. "We are not just Native Americans; we are citizens of this planet," he said. "How do we bridge all these gaps? The Nevada Native Vote Project became the civic engagement arm of the nonprofit we started, with more community engagement in the spaces we occupied. What we focus on most is people. We know what it feels like to have no options. The state and government have always failed the tribes. We have a large culture of poverty, which has always made our people feel apathetic toward the federal government and the failed voter system."
Tziavi Melendez, 16, dances a powwow style of dance called Fancy Dance in her regalia for a TikTok video to promote a get-out-the-Native-vote message in their backyard in Sparks, Nevada, the day before Election Day.
Native Americans from Nevada’s 27 federally recognized tribes account for about 3 percent of the state’s voting-age population, according to the National Congress of American Indians. That’s 60,000 potential voters. Nevada has been a swing state for decades; in 2016, Hillary Clinton won by just 2.4 percent (about 27,202 votes).
“We need more exposure. Our vote matters, and we’ve only had the right to it for 58 years,” said David Andrews, an enrolled member of the Walker River Paiute Tribe.
Native American voters in Nevada are poised to play an important role in the state's election this year. A years-long effort to combat a legacy of voter suppression that dates back to when Indigenous people first gained the right to vote began to pay off in 2016. The Walker River Paiute Tribe and the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe won a lawsuit against the state of Nevada to establish early in-person voting and Election Day polling sites in towns located within their respective reservations.
Brian Melendez, an enrolled member at of the Reno-Sparks Indian Colony, founder of the Nevada Native American Caucus, and one of the coordinators with the Nevada Native Vote Project, explained that only a third of the tribal communities in the state have access to both an in-person polling location and a ballot drop-off box. The remaining voters face the prospect of driving up to 100 miles to cast their vote.
Brian and his wife, Teresa, have been using their own tax return to front money for the Nevada Native Vote Project, which included creating voter infrastructure, organizing volunteers and canvassers, buying T-shirts and stickers, and posting videos and messages on social media.
“We do this work knowing that we may never see the fruition of it. Our communities need something to stand on, and if that means we have to do all this and never see the outcome, well that’s just what has to happen,” Melendez said. “We at the Nevada Native Vote Project are trying to become the liaisons between tribes and the county clerks, because sometimes the tribes don’t understand the process of getting a polling site set up, or they just don’t agree on a certain date and then it’s too late, or the county clerks just don’t want to help at all.”
Melendez is a fan of Native scholar Vine Deloria, who in 1969 wrote Custer Died for Your Sins. He often returns to this quote in the book for inspiration:
The greatest potential, as yet untapped, lies in Nevada. With a small total population concentrated in Las Vegas and Reno, Nevada is presently on the threshold of development. Some 26 tribes, mainly Paiutes and Shoshones, live in Nevada. If these tribes were ever to form a strong political or economic alliance, they would exert tremendous influence within the state. The Nevadan Indian population is fairly young and the possibility of its developing a strong Indian swing vote as it comes of age is excellent.
Tziavi and Pasituva Melendez.
“I want our people to think more about how we are existing, the reasoning behind why we function the way we do,” Melendez said. “There are so many elements to why we function the way we do, or why we don’t vote—structural racism, colonization. There are so many layers, and ultimately the invisibility of tribal communities factors into all of this.”
Unnecessary, discriminatory hurdles to the ballot continue to harm Nevada’s Native voting communities. Native leaders, like Melendez and Chairwoman Amber Torres, say they must advocate for themselves or continue to suffer neglect at the hands of their own federal government.