Hello John ,

TJ Ellerbeck here, one of the co-directors for Stewardship Utah. Many of you know that Stewardship Utah is the product of a merger between O2 Utah and the Rural Utah Project. I was the Executive Director of the Rural Utah Project– working to increase voter turnout in rural communities, and particularly the Navajo Nation, was a key pillar of our work.

In 2020, the Rural Utah Project went to Arizona to help register voters across the Navajo Nation. This resulted in 5,676 newly registered voters, a 50% increase in voter participation, and Arizona going blue during the 2020 election. Part of that success is attributed to our aggressive digital organizing program in partnership with Natives Outdoors.

Both in 2020 and in 2024, we partnered with Natives Outdoors to do digital organizing– using social media to inform and mobilize voters. In 2020, this first-of-its-kind campaign resulted in a reach of 2.2 million and 383 unique pieces of media created with the intent of sharing voter information. This year, those numbers changed dramatically. While fewer pieces of media were created (264 for 2024), the reach increased to 6.6 million across multiple media platforms.

One of the social media posts created by Natives Outdoors during our 2024 campaign

Both in 2020 and in 2024, we partnered with Natives Outdoors to do digital organizing– using social media to inform and mobilize voters. In 2020, this first-of-its-kind campaign resulted in a reach of 2.2 million and 383 unique pieces of media created with the intent of sharing voter information. This year, those numbers changed dramatically. While fewer pieces of media were created (264 for 2024), the reach increased to 6.6 million across multiple media platforms.

Beyond our digital work, we also returned to Arizona for the 2024 election cycle to work on the ground alongside Wingbeat 88, an Indigenous-led organization that completed over 7,000 voter registrations and over 13,000 get-out-the-vote plans across three Arizona counties on the Navajo Nation since its inception in 2022.

Our partnership with Wingbeat 88 resulted in registering 11,549 voters. Of those voters,  5,322  of them were brand new voters who cast a ballot in the 2024 election for the first time, contributing to the election of Senator Ruben Gallego, an outspoken opponent of the recently passed FY2025 Reconciliation Budget Bill.

Wingbeat 88 staff registering voters at hot spots, like grocery stores, around the Arizona portion of the Navajo Nation.

While our work might not have turned Arizona blue again, this is a huge moment for supporting communities whose voices are not always heard at the ballot box and beyond. Throughout our time in Arizona, we had to navigate several attempts by the Arizona state legislature to make voting significantly harder for Arizonans and Indigenous voters, and despite that, we still had huge wins. 

Thank you to everyone who donated to our work, shared our messages, contributed their time to this mission, and showed up at their own local polls.

Onward,

TJ Ellerbeck

Co-director

[email protected]

www.stewardshiputah.org