Help Get Out The Vote!

It’s rewarding!

Canvassing with Native Vote

Mary Wichita, Mason, WI

Forty degrees and snow turning to spritzing rain is not optimal weather for canvassing. Nevertheless, inspired by Wisconsin Native Vote’s mission to make sure policy makers hear native voices and to combat historic voter disenfranchisement, five of us with the League of Women Voters met Dee Sweet, Anishinaabe, White Earth, WI Native Vote Manager at the Legendary Waters Grill last Saturday. After a brief orientation, we pulled size 3XL tee shirts over our coats and set out door to door to find out whether people were registered to vote, will vote, and most importantly, which issues concerned them most. We were to ask them to fill out a card on the spot that would include their issues, contact info, and the answer to whether they want to be on Wisconsin Native Vote’s email list.

Jack and I had so much fun! Naturally, we were a bit anxious about whether anyone would actually talk with us, and here’s what happened. As one resident after another answered the door, a total of five out of 10, our tee shirts with colorful letters spelling Wisconsin Native Vote against a white background, immediately alerted people to why we were there. This was a huge help. Everyone we talked with was registered and intended to vote. As I asked if they were willing to complete the pledge card, they invited us in. Though we stood near the door, just being inside created the opportunity for small talk and storytelling, at which Jack excels!

Inside one home, the woman noticed Jack’ s Vietnam Vet hat and brought out a framed photo of her husband with the caption “Died as a result of his service in Vietnam.” In another household, chit-chat about the football game on TV prompted Jack to mention he’s a Buckeye (Ohio State) supporter. A young girl hanging out in the kitchen called out, what’s a buckeye? To which Jack replied “a little, useless nut.” Laughter continued to put us all at ease. As I was handed the completed postcard we learned their daughter owns a distillery up the street, which we promised to visit sometime.

After another successful encounter, an older woman reluctantly opened the next door, looking at us askance. As I explained why we were there, she warmed up a bit and invited us in while she took the card and went closer to her husband who was seated near a walker. “What’s this about?” he asked. As I tried to explain and mentioned Dee’s name, he whispered to his wife, loud enough for us to hear,

“Who is Dee Sweet? She’s not from Red Cliff. See, they just want to change us; don’t fill it out; I am sick of people telling me who to vote for.”  I tried again, better at it the second time. “Yes, that makes sense,” nodding to his wife to complete the card. Warming up even more, he suggested that Wisconsin Native Vote have a meeting at the community center to talk about these things.

At all of these homes, people graciously took information cards to share with others.

Two more homes to go. Moving on quickly from the first where a man answered with his attack dog right behind him, we drove up a driveway to encounter a man tending his smoker. Again, with our tee shirts making clear our purpose, he smiled, and told us he was smoking chicken and fish for his brother’s wedding tomorrow. Happy to engage, he used his walker to move to the driver’s side of his car to chat from a seated position. He was very open to taking our material and signing the card to be contacted again before the election. He told us his most important issues were health care, clean water, and women’s issues, a woman’ s control over her own body… Oh, and just “ help us old folks…I mean look at my ramp” (which did need some shoring up).

Completing the card, he and Jack talked about smoking fish. Proudly he stood up and opened the trunk of his van to show us the five huge salmon filets he had smoked. This led to the story of the day…how he had once smoked fish for Elizabeth Taylor! Apparently, Bodin’s, whom he worked for as a young man, had secured a contract from a company in Minocqua to provide smoked fish for a large dinner party for Elizabeth Taylor. He got to go to Minocqua with his fish to explain how he smoked it. “Hang on,” he said, “I even have a photo to prove it.” … of the huge fish, not of Elizabeth Taylor.

We learned a lot while canvassing and felt useful. According to Dee, who collected all the pledge cards completed on Saturday, the top three issues for voters are education, climate change (tied with clean water), and health care (tied with the opioid crisis). On the back of our tee shirts are the words Vote for the Seven Generations. Thank you to the League for giving us this opportunity by partnering with Wisconsin Native Vote (https://www.conservationvoices.org/nativevote).