Navajo voters struggle with barriers at the polls in Arizona
- Navajo Nation faced significant challenges during elections, such as long travel distances and translation issues.
- A lawsuit against Apache County highlighted deficiencies in communication regarding mail-in ballot issues.
- Ongoing barriers for Native voters indicate a need for legislative reforms to ensure equitable voting access.
In Arizona, particularly in Apache County, a significant portion of the population is Native American, primarily from the Diné, or Navajo Nation. Voters from these communities encountered multiple obstacles during recent elections, including lengthy travel distances to polling locations, delays in opening polling sites, and systemic translation issues related to ballots. According to a study by the Brennan Center for Justice, voters living on tribal lands experienced an average turnout rate that was 11 percentage points lower than those residing off tribal lands between 2012 and 2022. These challenges were exacerbated this year as Navajo voters sued Apache County due to a lack of sufficient communication regarding issues with mail-in ballots. Officials only announced that 182 voters needed to correct problems with their ballots two days before the deadline, leaving little time for them to respond. The county contended that they had made reasonable efforts to contact affected voters, but a judge refused to take further action on the matter, indicating that the county had fulfilled its obligations. Additionally, linguistic barriers further complicate the voting process for Native Americans, as ballots must be translated into Navajo. Translators are tasked with accurately conveying complex topics such as abortion and substance use, which proves particularly challenging for a language that has a strong oral tradition. Leonard Gorman, the executive director of the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission, highlighted that translation difficulties can impact voters' understanding of important ballot measures. The ongoing struggles faced by Native American voters demonstrate the broader systemic issues in the electoral process that need to be addressed. Chelsea Jones, a Brennan Center researcher, pointed out that the unique barriers faced by these communities have remained largely unacknowledged by federal legislation. The Native American Voting Rights Act, which aims to tackle these challenges, has yet to make progress in Congress, leaving many Native voters disenfranchised and without adequate support.