DENVER -Beginning Friday morning, Washington state will have its newest superdelegate. Lona Wilbur of LaConner is currently a Democratic National Committee Member-elect until she takes over for Wenatchee's Pat Notter tomorrow morning.

[img_assist|nid=2004|title=Lona Wilbur|desc=|link=none|align=left|width=150|height=151]Wilbur has experience from both 2004 and 2008 as elected delegate from the 2nd Congressional District, for John Kerry and Barack Obama, respectively, but in 2012 Wilbur will be an automatic delegate, better known as a superdelegate, by way of her election to the DNC.

 But long before 2012, Wilbur will have her hands full working in politics, and more specifically working on raising awareness about voting. As a Democrat, Wilbur sits on both the executive boards of both the 10th Legislative District and Skagit County Democrats, and has been blanketing her neighborhood with signs for Barack Obama. She is also a member of the Swinomish Indian Tribe, and will be one of just four Native Americans on the DNC.

But more than that Wilbur was a founding member, along with Matt Tomaskin (Yakama), Clinton delegate Julie Johnson (Lummi) and eight other political activists, of the newly-formed non-partisan group called Native Vote, created by a group of grassroots tribal members in 2006 to get out the Native vote on a regular basis.

"All of the Democratic issues are important...because the stand for the values of improving people's lives," Wilbur said of why she feels so passionate about politics. "My family imparted on me the importance of our vote in the electoral process and what that means."

Family, in fact, plays a particularly strong role in Wilbur's philosophy on voting and why it is such an important part of her life. Her great grandfather, a Swinomish, exists in the congressional record because of a visit he made to Washington D.C. nearly a hundred years ago, and yet he was never a citizen and could never vote. Then when her grandparents received the ability to vote in their lifetime, they told her it was one of the most important moments in their life, and went on to become delegates for John and Robert Kennedy in the 1960s.

"Because there was a time when they did not have that right, I value the right to vote," Wilbur said.

And it is something she wants to impart on her fellow citizens, with organizations like Native Vote and just by talking to her neighbors. That grassroots style, she says, is how the system really makes an impact. Peoples values extend to their neighbors, then into their city, county, state and finally Washington, D.C. where the big decisions are made.

"We volunteer in that process," she said, "and that is all our responsibility to contribute."

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