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Native News
Allison Herrera

Indigenous voters in Minnesota should feel confident using their tribal ID for Election Day registration

T-shirts and a coloring book are seen
T-shirts and a coloring book promoting "Make Voting a Tradition" are visible at an information booth set up for the elections outside the Native American Community Development Institute on in Minneapolis.
Kerem Yücel | MPR News 2023

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Early voting started in the state on Sept. 20 and continues until the day before Election Day. Registered voters in the state don’t have to show an ID when they cast their ballot, but people who are registering to vote or are first time voters do need a form of ID.

Several types of identification can be used to prove residency, including a driver’s license or U.S. passport. Native people who are citizens of one of 11 federally recognized tribal nations in Minnesota can use their tribal ID, which is issued by their tribal government, to register to vote in-person. 

Earlier this year, the non-partisan organization IllumiNative gave grants to six organizations in six states including Minnesota to talk about the importance of voting in Indigenous communities. In Minneapolis, the Native American Community Development Organization received money for their campaign, “Make Voting a Tradition.”

The campaign is educating community members about who’s on the ballot, sharing what some of the issues are and getting people registered to vote. Part of getting registered to vote is, in the words of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, proving you are who you say you are. 

“In Minnesota, fortunately, registration is very straightforward,” Simon said. “As I often say, it only means two things. It doesn’t mean 20 things or eight things or even three things. Registration in Minnesota just means that you have to show that you are who you say you are, and you live where you say you live.”

In Minnesota, using a tribal identification card wasn’t always considered a valid form of ID to register to vote. Twenty years ago, the ACLU of Minnesota, the National Congress of American Indians and tribal citizens who were turned away when trying to use their tribal IDs filed a lawsuit against then-secretary of state Mary Kiffmeyer. The judge ruled in favor of the plaintiffs, affirming use of tribal IDs as valid. 

Tribal citizens today should feel confident in using their tribal ID with name, signature, address and photo as a form of identification. 

Your Minnesota voter guide

According to the Native American Rights Fund, there are still barriers Native people face when they head to the polls. They released a report in 2020, “Obstacles at Every Turn: Barriers to Political Participation Faced by Native American Voters.” 

Some of those obstacles included distance, travel time and limited hours of non-tribal government offices, technological barriers and the digital divide and hard to obtain voter ID requirements. 

“What we see is, even if there’s an acceptance of a tribal ID, often there’s a requirement that there’s an address on it. So that can be an additional hurdle,” said Jaqueline De Leon, an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund. 

Simon said that poll workers have been trained on the issue of accepting a tribal ID and said his office has received no complaints about this issue.

He also wants to make sure Native voters are aware that under a law passed last year called the Temporary Tribal Voting Location, that, “If a county receives a request from a federally recognized Tribal Nation, it must provide an in-person absentee location on reservation land for at least one day.” 

He says it’s made a difference.

“In too many cases, their regular polling place may not be as convenient for them to get to …and now, at the request of tribal governments, we know that for at least one day during the early voting period, there will be such a polling location on tribal lands,” said Simon. 

If Native American voters try to use their tribal ID and are rejected, the Native American Rights Fund has set up a hotline. You can email vote@narf.org or call 1-866-OUR-VOTE and flag the issue as a tribal ID issue and your call will be rerouted to the Native American Rights Fund for help.

“Nobody should leave without successfully completing a registration form,” De Leon said.