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Lisa Votino-Tarrant, on the left
KW: We will be posting a series of post-election thoughts and e-mails from various people, including some people who did and some who did not vote for Obama.
The e-mail below was sent out by Lisa Votino-Tarrant, who lives on the Shinnecock Reservation, in Eastern Long Island.
Finding A Tribe’s Voice
Hi All,
I had an amazing Election Day yesterday as I’m sure most of you have as well.
Hamptons.com had taken me and Layna’s picture, but I had no idea they would be doing a story on it, lol. Kelly is really sweet, but she misunderstood some of the numbers I gave her. (By the way, someone send this to Layna and let her know I like my coffee with milk….lol! My Assistant! She completely rocked yesterday and completely held her own!) [Story here.]
But let me give you some numbers that to me, still makes me get butterflies in my tummy:
The highest voter turnout on the Shinnecock Reservation was last November at 36%. Yesterday, approximately 70% cast their vote in-person and about 10% had sent in absentee ballots.
For those of you who are bad in math, THAT’S AN 80% TURNOUT!
Everyone in politics….take note. There is a new wave of participation. Members of the Shinnecock Nation, who have been mostly written-off in previous elections, WILL have their voices be heard.
So when you see your Shinnecock friends, congratulate them. Many people worked very hard this election to ensure that their mothers, fathers, aunties, uncles, cousins, friends, etc. went out and voted. It wasn’t just me and it wasn’t just the NAACP, we are simply the face they put in this article. It was each individual who finally felt that someone was listening to them…..and what a difference that made.
Lisa Votino-Tarrant
lmvotino at optonline dot net
Twitter: http://twitter.com/lmvotino
Filed under: Barack Obama, election, Election 2008, elections, local, long island, Long Island Politics, Political Websites, presidential race, progressive politics Tagged: | election, Lisa Votino-Tarrant, native american, Obama, Shinnecock, vote, voting
It was an amazing day and thank you for sharing this with everyone :) I have been hearing plenty of positive things about this election, regardless of people’s votes…..