Election Day Party at SRHS Football Field
American Indians were granted citizenship through the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924. Despite becoming U.S. citizens, many American Indians were still denied the right to vote. It wasn’t until 41 years later, through the Voting Rights Act, that American Indians truly were allowed to vote.
On Election Day, November 8, the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community hosted a “Get Out the Vote” Community celebration at the Salt River Football Field, near the corner of Longmore and McDowell roads. This family event attracted dozens of Community and non-Community members, who celebrated their right to vote.
This year’s theme was “Our Ancestors Couldn’t Vote, But You Can.”
Throughout the evening, teens and children participated in a kids’ vote, in which presidential candidate Hillary Clinton beat Donald Trump, 53-12. Youth participated in games, answered trivia questions, won door prizes and learned about the importance of voting.
Everyone enjoyed dinner, catered by Famous Dave’s BBQ, while sitting in front of two television screens, watching the national and state election results roll in.
“Voting is very important because it’s a right that we have. I think we should be able to express it in any way that we can, even if we’re not really sure who we want to vote for. Take advantage of it,” said Summer Lopez, 14.
“We should be able to vote. As Natives, this was our land before and we should have been able to vote a long time ago. We should vote for whoever we want to because we’re part of the future and we need to be a part of this. We are a part of America too,” said Cianna Dallas, 14.Click here to view photo gallery.