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during a discussion later this month at South Dakota State University.
• Alexander Murphy is a professor of political-cultural geography at the University of Oregon. He will give a presentation about geography titled "Understanding the Changing Planet: Opportunities and Challenges in Geography in the 21st Century" at 5 p.m. on Nov. 14 at SDSU.
• The presentation will include ideas in an earlier study Murphy took part in that examined geography's role in topics like environmental change, expanding cities and new technologies.
• Murphy says many people may be surprised to learn that geographers can help with society's large issues.
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Tribal leaders push for big Indian voter turnout
SUSAN MONTOYA BRYAN,Associated Press
• ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) -- A tribal newspaper in Arizona is publishing a detailed voter guide for the first time ever. A New Mexico pueblo is sending kindergartners home with get-out-the-vote buttons for their parents. Tribes in Wisconsin are reaching out to young adults with a Rock the Vote event.
• Native American communities nationwide are working hard to tap about 3 million Native American voters, hoping to turn around low voter participation that has persisted in Indian Country for decades. The push is being headed by the National Congress of American Indians, the largest group representing Native Americans, which calls low turnout a "civic emergency" -- fueled by everything from language barriers and vast distances between polling places to high unemployment and poverty.
• "As we look at why our vote is so important, our political activism really is aimed at making sure that we can address critical concerns in our communities," said NCAI executive director Jacqueline Johnson Pata.
• The NCAI and its partners are focusing on 18 states with high Indian populations, and their efforts are not without challenge. The NCAI said in a recent report that voter ID laws could negatively affect participation this year in Native American and Alaska Native communities in 10 states -- Alaska, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Michigan, Montana, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Dakota and Washington.
• For example, in Alaska and Florida, tribal ID cards are not listed as acceptable forms of identification at the polls. In other states, address requirements pose difficulty for those tribal communities that lack street addresses. In Montana, Indians from the remote Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap reservations sought an (Continued on page 20)
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