Vice President Kamala Harris hosted a voting talks Tuesday with Native American leaders and US Secretary of the Interior Deb Haaland.
Watch the conversation at the top of the player.
The largest Native American reservation in the United States spans parts of three counties in Arizona, each of which had different approaches to voting in the district in the 2020 general election.
Apache County voters were required to cast their ballots at their assigned polling station. Those registered in Navajo County could vote anywhere in the county. Coconino County used a hybrid model.
The Navajo Nation has long argued that the approach is inconsistent and confusing, resulting in ballot papers being rejected and tribal members denied the same choice as others in Arizona.
The US Supreme Court on July 1 disagreed on a larger case over Arizona voting regulations, upholding a ban on counting ballots cast in the wrong district and returning early ballots for someone else.
The ruling will extend well into tribal communities, especially those where indigenous peoples have no postal service or have to travel long distances to polling stations and the post office.
Native American voters see this as another stage in the long history of electoral discrimination, but say they will continue to push for access and legislative changes.
“I feel like it’s in our blood to be ready to counter, fight, and stay strong,” said Jaynie Parrish, Navajo and executive director of the Navajo County Democrats. “Our organizers keep saying, ‘If your voice doesn’t matter, why are they trying so hard to take it away?'”
The conservative majority in the Supreme Court wrote that Arizona’s interest in the integrity of the elections justified the measures, saying that voters would face “modest burdens” at best. A lower court had found them discriminatory under the Federal Electoral Law.
“The court appeared to take note of the number of choices without recognizing how limited those options are in Indian Country,” said Patty Ferguson-Bohnee, director of the Indian Legal Clinic at Arizona State University Law School and a citizen of the Pointe. -au-Chien Indian tribe in Louisiana. “They are not a reality for reservist voters.”
Navajo Nation President Jonathan Nez said the decision does nothing to protect electoral access for minorities, including the Navajos.
The decision ignores the number of voters who did not cast their vote because they were told they were not in the right district, as well as socio-economic barriers such as poverty and the remoteness of the reservation, Ferguson-Bohnee said.
Hardly anyone has an address on the vast Navajo Nation. Tribal members are among those rural folk who have to draw a map on voter ID cards in a small space that shows their place of residence, and it is up to the district officials to place it in the correct district.
In the 2020 elections, more than 2,000 Apache County voters were put on a list over questions about their residence, the Navajo Nation found in court documents. Tribal attorneys wrote that neither the state nor the county had online options for voters to choose their voting location without an address.
There is no public transportation on the 27,000 square miles (70,000 square kilometers) Navajo Nation, which is larger than 10 US states. It extends to Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. Many people rely on friends, family or strangers for journeys.
Bad roads make voting difficult, the tribe said. More than four fifths of the reserve’s roads are unpaved. During the election, many Navajo politicians say they want better roads.
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“We’d be grateful even for gravel,” said Tovina Yazzie, manager of the Navajo Nation’s Sweetwater Chapter.
Yazzie tries to impress the tribesmen that the vote could lead to more money for the small community near the Arizona-Utah border. She also recognizes the obstacles.
“We meet some people or parishioners who don’t have vehicles, so it is an obstacle for our community to come and vote,” she said. “And the weather also plays a role, whether it is snowing, raining or muddy.”
Jennifer Begay, who works at the nearby Red Mesa Chapter, spent three hours driving family and friends to the polling stations in the 2016 election.
“I just really wanted people to vote,” she said. “You didn’t have a transport.”
Native Americans did not receive US citizenship until 1924, and even then, some states for decades barred them from voting if they were on reservations or failed an English literacy test.
According to a report by the Native American Rights Fund, Native Americans and advocacy groups have won or resolved much of the election-related lawsuits they have filed over the years.
Montana lawmakers passed a bill earlier this year banning paid collection of postal ballot papers and another to end voter registration on election day. Tribes have questioned both laws, arguing that they prevent Native American Indians from voting fully and on an equal footing.
In Nevada, state lawmakers last year lifted restrictions on who can collect and return postal ballot papers on behalf of others. Teresa Melendez of the Nevada Native Vote Project said it was incredibly helpful, especially for tribal members who have to drive three hours back and forth to the nearest polling station.
Arizona passed laws this year that Native Americans said would make voting difficult, but Republicans defended in the name of electoral integrity. A bill codified a practice of giving voters who did not sign ballots until polling stations close on election day. Another could lead to the deletion of voters from the lists, who automatically receive ballot papers in the mail.
Arizona Republican Attorney General Mark Brnovich said the ballot collection law ensures fairness in elections. The challenge that landed in the Supreme Court was a desperate Democratic tactic, he said.
“This decision is a clear rejection of these tactics,” he said in a statement.
The 9th District Court of Appeals ruled that the law most likely affects Native Americans who travel long distances to send ballots.
“But you can put your vote on the ballot box, it should be a priority,” said Steve Begay, vice chairman of the Apache County Democrats. “If there are laws that restrict that, it’s probably not democratic.”
President Joe Biden’s administration advocated a tightening of the Supreme Court decision that overturned the 9th District. The decision was made while the government sought comments from tribes across the country on electoral obstacles.
A surge in voter turnout among tribal members helped Biden lead to victory in Arizona, a state that hadn’t supported a Democrat in a White House contest since 1996.
Jacqueline De Leon, an attorney employed by the Native American Rights Fund and a member of Isleta Pueblo, New Mexico, said the tribes had been pushing for more federal voter registration options and a link to the U.S. Postal Service for delivery of mail Households increase tribal land, among other things.
Despite the obstacles faced by tribal members, she urged Native American and other minority communities to vote so their decisions can help shape new laws.
“There wouldn’t be so much effort incapacitating voters if power wasn’t at stake,” she said.
Contributors to this story were Associated Press writers Mark Sherman in Washington, Amy B. Hanson in Helena, Montana, and Sam Metz in Carson City, Nevada.
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