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Siena Kalina ’23 (Osage Nation) and Kate Newman ’24 assist with voting activity in North Dakota in 2022.

Election Day 2026 may be especially memorable for one group of �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder students—and it has nothing to do with the results.

About 16 students from Colorado Law and other campus units will travel to South Dakota to volunteer as nonpartisan election monitors on the Rosebud and Pine Ridge Indian Reservations.

The law school has participated in the program for many years, but the changing legal landscape means each election offers slightly different circumstances, said Associate Professor Christina Stanton.

As director of the American Indian Law Clinic, Stanton inherited the project from former director Carla Fredericks and was excited to carry it forward.

“There are a lot of very unique issues facing Indigenous people in this country, and specifically Native peoples who live on reservations,” Stanton said. “We try to consider, what is the need this year and how can we be responsive?”

The program is held in partnership with , a nonprofit organization that works to advance equality at the ballot box.

Student volunteers—who join this year from the law school’s American Indian Law Program and clinics and �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder’s Masters of the Environment program—receive training from Four Directions about voting rights, what it takes to serve as election monitors, and specific election rules that apply to their sites.

Past participant Mariah Bowman ‘25 said it was comforting to witness community members voicing their differences through voting.

“If you’re someone who cares about America or democracy, the election protection trip is where you want to be,” Bowman said.

For many students, Election Day is their first visit to a reservation, so they also discuss how to respect the place and people they are visiting—topics like attire, eating, cultural expectations and specific reservation rules. As Election Day nears, they caravan from Boulder six to seven hours to their assigned sites.

It’s impossible to guess what Election Day will hold, Stanton said.

Past participants have provided information to uncertain voters that allowed them to cast a regular ballot rather than provisional. Students have held voters’ children so they could cast their ballot. One student read a ballot aloud to a person who was unable to read but wanted to vote for the first time, Stanton said.

In rare cases, students observe more serious matters. One year in North Dakota, the group observed several men open-carrying guns near an election site—an action permitted at some polling places in the state that could nevertheless raise concerns about access and voter intimidation.

“The best day is a day when nothing happens and you wonder, why am I even here?” Stanton said.

Haley Maher ‘25, Jessica Garcia ’26 and Emiliano Salazar ’23 supported polling place needs and saw the sights in South Dakota.

Although the election-day work has immediate, tangible impact, it also illuminates the need for year-round efforts in Colorado and beyond to support the numerous voting issues disproportionately affecting Native American voters, Stanton said.

As voter ID laws are considered or enacted across numerous states, complications can arise for Native people who hold only a Tribal ID, never received a birth certificate, or face transportation challenges to reach the DMV, Stanton said.

In parts of Colorado, Ute remains the primary language for some voters, and finding adequate translation services and materials can be a challenge for a language that is traditionally spoken, not written, and has a dwindling number of speakers, she said.

Recent federal actions also have raised alarms about the possibility of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement activity in Native communities, where Indigenous people may be unable to quickly prove their citizenship, Stanton said.

“There are bigger pieces that can only be addressed through advocacy in the state,” she said.

Colorado Law students and faculty are answering the call, using their legal training to offer information and programs for Native voters along with on-the-ground Election Day support to share information that matters.

This year, on-site teams will be led by Associate Professor Sarah Matsumoto, former American Indian Law Program Fellow Hannah Ahders ‘25, Getches-Wilkinson Center Water Law Fellow Tyanne Benallie, and Assistant Professor Gregor MacGregor of the Masters of the Environment program.

The work is supported��by��grant funding from��Public and Community-Engaged Scholarship in �鶹��Ѱ�����Boulder’s Office for Outreach and Community Engagement.

Although the issues are complex, Stanton said, their message is simple: “Know your rights.”