Native voters can swing elections, but court ruling suppresses turnout, leaders say

The recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling upholding a law that requires Arizona voters to show proof of citizenship when registering has alarmed Indigenous communities, who see it as another voter-suppression tactic that will affect tribal members living in tribal communities within the state.

The Native vote is widely credited with helping turn Arizona from red to blue in the 2020 elections, but tribal communities still face significant barriers to voting access in many areas. Native leaders say the Supreme Court's decision to reinstate the Arizona law requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration creates yet another hurdle.

“The requirements to register to vote in Arizona are already quite lengthy and complex,” said Navajo Council Delegate Carl Slater. “This is just yet one more requirement a Navajo voter will need to comply with in order to register to vote.”

In a 5-4 vote on Aug. 22, less than three months before the general election, the Supreme Court agreed to reinstate the registration provision of the law, siding with arguments by the Republican National Committee and GOP leaders in the Arizona Legislature. The emergency stay allows the enforcement of a 2022 state law requiring "documentary proof of citizenship" for presidential voting.

Slater said it will affect Navajo voters who will be required to prove their U.S. citizenship when registering to vote in state elections.

“The requirements to register to vote in Arizona are already quite lengthy and complex,” said Slater. “This is just yet one more requirement a Navajo voter will need to comply with in order to register to vote.”

Native voters can swing elections

As a key swing state, Arizona demonstrates the power of the Native vote in elections. According to the Native American Voter Suppression Fact Sheet, in 2018, Native Americans influenced election results when Sen. Kyrsten Sinema, then running as a Democrat, won by 55,000 votes, with 67,996 votes cast in on-reservation precincts.

Similarly, in the 2020 presidential election, President Joe Biden won Arizona by just over 10,000 votes, with nearly 60,000 ballots coming from voters on the Hopi and Navajo reservations in northeastern Arizona.

With 22 federally recognized tribes in the state, approximately 5.2% of Arizona's population identifies as American Indian or Alaska Native, according to the U.S. Census, giving Native voters more of a likelihood to once again influence the outcome of the upcoming election.

“It doesn’t make sense to me, so you’d have to rely on Arizona legislators’ statements for their reasoning,” said Slater. “Under the shroud of upholding ‘election integrity,’ these laws are now being used in a way that may disenfranchise voters.”

Slater represents the Navajo communities of Tsaile/Wheatfields, Lukachukai, Round Rock, Tséch’izhí, Rock Point all located in Apache County, the third-largest and the poorest county in the state. In the 2020 General Election, over 2,000 voters in Apache County, were placed on a list, primarily due to questions about their residency. These voters were assigned to the wrong precinct, and as a result, they did not appear on the voting roster on election day —through no fault of their own.

Similarly, in 2012, Apache County wrongfully purged 500 Navajo voters because the county recorder rejected a post office box and a hand-drawn map on voter registration forms to indicate their residence location.

“For Navajo voters within my communities, Election Day voting continues to be an issue based on Apache County’s precinct model,” said Slater. “This model unnecessarily burdens Navajo voters and creates additional barriers that are not experienced by voters in other counties. It’s weird that we have a Navajo majority on the board of supervisors but they have the greatest barriers of any county on the Navajo Nation in Arizona.”

Melvin Harrison, chair of the Navajo Nation Board of Election Supervisors, noted that while this particular issue doesn't directly affect them, as they focus on Navajo Nation elections, they have worked with Navajo leadership to boost voter turnout in the recent primary election. By scheduling Navajo elections on the same day as federal and state elections, they avoided a situation where federal and state primaries would have occurred a week before Navajo Nation elections.

Harrison believes most voters would not have wanted to vote twice in separate elections. He said if they were to give them a choice more than likely voters would choose to vote at the Navajo Nation election rather than a state or federal elections.

"We could've went by our own primary date of August 6 ... we have our own elections laws to abide by," said Harrison. "Navajo voters aren't going to go to two elections one week after another. That is the issue. We desperately needed them to vote in the state and federal election as well."

'We all should be concerned'

Non-profit organizations, like Arizona Native Votes, which focus on registering and educating voters in tribal communities, aren't certain how the recent changes will affect their efforts to register new voters, according to Jaynie Parrish, executive director.

“Different groups are trying to understand and we’re hoping to have more information from the secretary of state and county election offices soon,” said Parrish. “We’re just not sure the scope of how this will impact tribal and rural communities.”

Parrish, like Slater, views this requirement as a form of voter suppression and said “when any group is targeted, immigrant or other, we all should be concerned.”

“It’s clearly a voter suppression tactic launched only a few weeks from the voter registration deadline (Oct. 7 in Arizona) to create more barriers and confuse voters and groups who are trying to register community members,” said Parrish. “This won't only impact immigrants, and Indigenous and rural communities though, it will impact everyone because it is the process and it will take up more time. Which we are already up against. It's also why groups like us exist to help our voters navigate and understand.”

Slater stressed that the Navajo Nation remains committed to educating and empowering Navajo voters, providing essential resources and assistance to ensure they can successfully register to vote. He also highlighted the importance of collaboration and communication with state and county officials to address key issues, such as improving the process for obtaining vital documents like birth certificates.

“We should be encouraging people to register to vote and take part in democracy,” said Slater. “Every requirement placed on Navajo voters to register to vote adds to the historical narrative that the state does not value their participation and that they are not welcomed in these spaces. We should be creating avenues to increase voter participation.”

Arlyssa D. Becenti covers Indigenous affairs for The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com. Send ideas and tips to [email protected].

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Native leaders say Supreme Court ruling will suppress voting