Native Vote works to ensure the right to vote for Arizona's Native Americans
Photo by Grandriver/iStock
The Navajo Nation is in a remote area of northeastern Arizona, far away from the hustle of urban life. The 27,400-acre reservation is home to the Canyon de Chelly National Monument and Monument Valley. There are no traffic jams, no shopping malls — and no one to reach out to on Election Day should something go awry.
And in 2006, something did.
This was after Arizonans passed Proposition 200, the "Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act,” a state initiative requiring specific forms of identification and proof of citizenship to vote. The initiative prevented participation at the polls for some Native Americans and led to the famous case of Agnes Laughter. The Navajo elder, who had been voting for 30 years, was turned away at the polls because she had no driver’s license and, being born in a hogan — a traditional Navajo dwelling — didn’t have a birth certificate.
In response to incidents like this, the Arizona Native Vote Election Protect Project was founded in 2008. It has been working to aid Native Americans in the state ever since.
Native Vote volunteers needed
Native Vote is recruiting volunteers to help Arizona's Indigenous voters on Election Day. In-person and virtual training sessions are available.
In-person training: 6–8 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 29. Beus Center for Law and Society, room 544, Downtown Phoenix campus. Food will be served.
Virtual training: Noon–1:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 31. Zoom link will be shared with registrants.
Learn more and register for either session on the Native Vote website.
The project is a partnership between Arizona State University's Indian Legal Clinic, the Inter Tribal Council of Arizona, the Arizona Indian Gaming Association and the Native American Bar Association of Arizona. Its main purpose is to protect the right to vote for Indigenous peoples in Arizona.
“Because we live in such a digital divide on top of everything else, we don’t always have access to quick information,” Shandiin Herrera, who is Navajo, said in reference to both the physical and technological remoteness that separates many of Arizona’s tribal communities from their more urban counterparts.
Herrera, a third-year student at Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law, grew up in the Navajo Nation and, even before law school, had tried to mobilize her community.
“To register to vote, people had to travel very far, and when they’d get there, they couldn’t register because they didn’t have the proper identification, and there were no clear steps on how to get it,” said Herrera, co-lead for the project. “That created a sense of helplessness and confusion. And so they said, ‘I guess I'm not participating in the election and I'm not participating in democracy.’”
Right now, Native Vote is recruiting volunteers to help Arizona's Indigenous voters on Nov. 5 — Election Day. In-person and virtual training sessions are available.
A short history of Native American voting rights
They may be the first residents of this land, but that has not always translated into voting privileges for Indigenous people.
Native Americans were not allowed to vote in America until 1924, when the Indian Citizenship Act was passed. Also known as the Snyder Act, it granted citizenship to all Indigenous people born in the U.S. Even then, many couldn’t participate because the Constitution left it up to the states to decide who had the right to vote.
Then, in 1965, the Voting Rights Act outlawed racial discrimination in voting practices. But in 2004, Arizonans passed Proposition 200 — the Arizona Taxpayer and Citizen Protection Act — which required people to provide proof of citizenship to register to vote and a photo identification before receiving a ballot at the polling place. Although the proof of citizenship requirement was later ruled invalid in federal court, it inspired the creation of the Arizona Native Vote Election Protect Project.
Addressing voter inequity
Each election cycle, ASU's Indian Legal Clinic works with its partners to put a voter protection plan in place in advance of the election. The plan outlines the strategy for addressing potential problems prior to the election and voter issues on Election Day. It is based, in part, on past election issues as well as changes in the law that may lead to new challenges.
Since the beginning of the semester, Native Vote project volunteers have been working around the state letting Native Americans know where to vote and what they'll need to vote. Now they are gearing up for the election, recruiting more volunteers who will help on Nov. 5. While they prioritize recruiting Native volunteers, especially from the communities where they will serve, they also train and send out non-Native volunteers. Training takes place Oct. 29 and 31.
Hotline volunteers will troubleshoot problems by phone, while other volunteers will be assigned to polling places on reservations to support voters, provide direction, answer questions and record incidents that take place on Election Day.
"Our volunteers will primarily be deployed to tribal reservations, but we will also cover off-reservation locations that serve large numbers of Native voters, like the Pascua Yaqui community in Guadalupe," said Joel Edman, the democracy director for the Arizona Native Vote Election Protect Project.
Volunteers will also be writing detailed reports and later filing lawsuits if necessary. Since 2018, the project has recorded incidents such as polling places opening late and closing early. Incidents are also related to traditional and provisional ballots and confusion because many tribal members do not live in traditional homes. One of the most important roles of the volunteers is to provide information about provisional ballots.
“Sometimes poll workers forget to offer a voter a provisional ballot, which is required by law and often makes the difference in a voter being allowed to vote," said Edman. “There's no instance in which someone should just be completely denied the right to vote. No one should be turned away without casting a ballot.”
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