This episode originally aired on WPLN News.

Tennessee has historically had low voter turnout. Today, we're talking about a few of the reasons behind those numbers.

Naelyn Pike is a 23-year-old Chiricahua Apache. As a lifelong fighter, she continues to follow in her grandfather’s — the Apache Stronghold's founder — footsteps in protecting Apache's holy and sacred sites and Indigenous rights. 

At the age of 13, Pike was one of the youngest people to ever testify before Congress when she spoke out against mining at Oak Flat, an Apache sacred site. Today, she continues to fight for environmental sustainability and Indigenous rights at the local, state, and national levels, battling corporations and political leaders through Indigenous spirituality. She firmly believes that the youth today give us hope for a better world for future generations. 

Read more about our work in 2022.

Eligible voters deserve equal access to register and vote under the law. Increasing the language accessibility of voting materials allows voters to feel confident in voting and become educated and informed as they vote on high-priority issues in their communities. The Expanding the VOTE Act would do just this.