MINNEAPOLIS — Only 66% of the eligible Native American voting population is registered to vote, according to a report by the Native American Rights Fund in 2020.
But communities in Minnesota are trying to change that.
Passing down traditions is important to Tasha Crazy Bull. She brought her kids to the Indian Health Board's Back to School Carnival and watched as they learned hoop dancing.
"We want our stuff to change in our community," she said. "Things will change as long as we vote."
She says she didn't vote until 2020 after George Floyd's murder inspired her to go to the polls.
"I just felt like we can't sit on the sideline and not do something if we don't have a voice," she said.
Now she's committed to making a better future for the next generation and is excited to vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.
"She is a woman; she is somebody that can inspire our young youth," she said.
The year 2020 fired up Native Americans across the country. Voters on the Navajo and Hopi reservations in Arizona cast 17,000 more votes than they had in 2016. A majority of them were for Biden who won the state by less than 11,000 votes.
"We just want people to vote no matter who they vote for, but as long as they share their voice and they share that, they know they have the power to go and do that," said Cassandra Holmes, volunteer with Make Voting a Tradition, an initiative to encourage Native people to vote.
Richard Boswell is particularly interested in maintaining access to health care so his nieces and nephews can stay healthy.
"What I've been through with cancer, I could just throw in the towels," said Boswell. "And I said, I fight this, just to stick around for them."
He has terminal prostate cancer and is on disability.
"Without the health care from the government, I don't think I'd be standing here today," said Boswell.
Roxann Anoka is an elder with the Red Lake Band and a proud grandmother. She says she's voting for a better future for her little ones.
"Voting is important because we almost always are forgotten in so many ways," said Anoka.
KARE reached out to both the DFL and Republican Native American affiliate groups for this story but did not get a response before air.