Reznet

Natives at the Polls: 'My Vote's Gonna Matter'

By Adam Sings In The Timber

ROCKY BOY'S AGENCY, Mont.—The people of the Rocky Boy's Reservation came out to do their part to help elect Barack Obama on Election Day. Record numbers of Chippewa Cree cast their ballots at two reservation precincts and one located in a border town. While some voted for John McCain, most of the tribal members who were interviewed voted for Obama.

The Rocky Boy's Reservation is located in north-central Montana and is home to about 3,100 tribal members, according to the Rocky Boy's Web site. Voters on the reservation cast their ballots at two polling places: Old Stone Child College in Rocky Boy's Agency and Stone Child College between Rocky Boy's Agency and Box Elder.

According to election officials at Stone Child College, voter turnout was higher than the 2004 presidential election. Election volunteer Jim O'Hara of Fort Benton, Mont., said that in 2004 only four voters had cast their votes by noon, this year 40 voters had cast their votes during the same time period.

Adam Sings In The Timber, Crow, is a senior majoring in photojournalism at the University of Montana in Missoula. A graduate of the Freedom Forum's American Indian Journalism Institute, Sings In The Timber has had photo internships at The Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk, Va., and the Billings Gazette and Great Falls Tribune in Montana. In October 2007, he attended the Eddie Adams Workshop, an intense four-day gathering of top photojournalism professionals in New York City and won a scholarship as the top student.

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