Native voters share priorities ahead of elections

Several state candidates met with Native and non-Native community members at the American Indian Community Housing Organization in Duluth on Tuesday and discussed their stances on housing.

White Earth Nation citizen Babette Sandman, 72, attended the evening forum. She remembered a time when she may not have voted.

“Voting has been a long journey for me. I'm from the '60s and '70s. You know, a lot of protesting and a lot of having a hard time to believe in our vote that it made any kind of difference,” Sandman said.

It wasn't until the 1960s and 1970s that the federal government addressed Native voting rights. Before then, many states restricted tribal communities or denied them the right to vote.

With the upcoming election, she says Native voters are needed ...