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Tapestries: Interwoven voices of local and global identities

Abstract

Examining racial gerrymandering, voter dilution, voter suppression, and disenfranchisement, this paper explores how Native American voters are marginalized and silenced from the voting process in the United States. Using recent legal cases and statistical data, I demonstrate the political social responses to the critical issue of Native American voting rights, and argue that Native Americans are the forgotten population of voters being left out of discussions about voting rights.

Author Biography

Victoria Guillemard '18 is a graduating senior at Macalester College in Saint Paul, Minnesota. She is an American Studies major with a legal concentration. During her time at Macalester, her research has focused on health care and public policy. “Forgotten Voters” was inspired by the work she did during her junior year as an intern for the Saint Paul chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union. Her primary role during her internship was as a research assistant for the Restore the Vote Coalition, which works towards restoring previously incarcerated persons’ voting rights. In her research, she discovered erroneously published data about disenfranchised Native American voters, inspiring her to look further into the systematic suppression of Native voters. The following paper is the result of her research and subsequent discoveries. She dedicates her paper and research to those who suffer as the result of voter suppression and disenfranchisement, as well as the members of the Restore the Vote Coalition for their tireless work towards restoring full voting rights.

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