Judge extends voting hours in 9 Navajo Nation communities after glitches

Polling sites in nine Navajo Nation communities will remain open until 9 p.m. after a series of glitches earlier in the day raised concerns that residents were not able to vote.

A judge ordered the polls would remain open an additional two hours in the communities of Lukachukai, Rock Point, Lupton, Fort Defiance, St. Michaels, Wheatfields, Dennehotso, Cottonwood and Chinle. The county met late Tuesday with Navajo officials and representatives of the Democratic and Republican parties.

After polling site glitches on the Navajo Nation, particularly in Apache County, the Navajo Department of Justice filed a complaint with the Superior Court to extend voting hours by two hours, Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren said late Tuesday.

After nearly an hourlong hearing involving the Navajo Nation, Apache County, the Arizona Democratic Party and the Arizona Republican Party, a judge said polling sites in the nine communities would remain open until 9 p.m.

"The court will order those court locations remain open for an additional two hours, but only those polling locations because those were the polling locations that the court received evidence specifically supported by documentation about the issues" said Apache County Superior Court Judge Michael Latham.

Latham said the only information presented to the court were allegations from the Navajo Nation. He added that if similar issues had occurred in other parts of the county, the court would address them in the same manner.He said the court would not grant the remedies as specifically requested by the Navajo Nation, but approve the extension for the specific polling locations, granting an additional two hours for the nine polling places to remain open.

"I understand based on my meeting with the board of supervisors that Apache County opposes this request," said Emily Craiger an attorney with The Burgess Law Group representing Apache County, who was in executive session with the Board of Supervisors before the hearing. "It's the position of Apache County that all voters were given the ability to vote today."

She said there were issues with the ballot-on-demand printers, but the problem was identified and quickly resolved. The fix was implemented by 9 a.m. and worked across Apache County. Additionally, backup paper ballots were available at all locations, and extra paper ballots were deployed. Accessible voting devices were also provided to ensure people could vote."We acknowledge there were longer lines than usual in Apache County but that all voters had the ability to vote today and continue to have that ability now," Craiger said. "The fix was deployed early in the day so that voters could continue voting for several hours."

Earlier, Nygren remained hopeful that the extension would be approved during a hearing, he expressed concern that even that additional time may not be enough to bring voters back to the polls. There are approximately 43,227 Navajo Nation members who are registered to vote in Apache County.“To have a technology glitch and have it happen on Election Day ... it’s hard enough to get people to the polls,” Nygren said. “People borrow money, catch a ride, they’re on bumpy washboard roads going to 10 miles to vote, it takes an hour to vote, then when you’re told ballots aren’t working, you got to wait. You get frustrated and leave. It’s really tough.”

Nygren has been traveling across the Navajo Nation to engage with voters and, as an Apache County voter himself, expressed disappointment. Like other Navajo leaders, he suggested it is no coincidence this issue is occurring in the region with the highest Navajo population, especially since the Navajo vote is seen as powerful enough to help turn the state from red to blue in 2020.

"We know in the last election the Navajo vote pulled President Biden through," Nygren said. "To have Apache County be affected like this is not good."

With polls set to close at 7 p.m., the Navajo Nation has requested an extension until 9 p.m. In the complaint, the Navajo Nation said Apache County Recorder Larry Noble and Elections Director Rita Vaughn failed to ensure ballots were available throughout the entire voting period, hindering Navajo voters’ ability to cast their votes. The problem was linked to late poll openings, malfunctioning machines and extensive wait times, with some voters waiting over three hours.

The complaint also said ballot printers and accessible voting machines have not worked at various times and locations across the Navajo Nation in Apache County, "causing hardship for Navajo voters trying to exercise their fundamental right to vote."

He added that only one polling site in Apache County continues to have issues with printers and check-in machines.The Navajo communities where polling places were not operable once polls were set to open were Rock Point, Cottonwood, St. Michaels and Dennehostso. Of the 403,927 enrolled Navajo citizens, a majority reside in Arizona, with 145,334 living in Arizona.

"In addition, during the day, voters faced long lines at numerous polling locations, polling locations ran out of ballots, ballot printers were not working, and accessible voting devices were not working," stated the complaint. "These were widespread problems and not limited to one or two polling locations."

Apache County uses a precinct-based voting system, requiring voters to cast their ballots at assigned polling locations for them to be valid. Without immediate court intervention, "defendants risk causing irreparable harm to the plaintiff and potentially hundreds of registered voters," the complaint said.

"It's anecdotal testimony about what was happening in the field," said Lance Broberg, Arizona Republican Party, in opposition to the extension. "Several different declarations... the first one was at 10:30 a.m., next was 9:40 a.m., then 10:30 a.m., then 9 a.m. ... so what are you seeing is all the complaints and all of the issues that were raised, really took place and are evidence by declarations from individuals who arrived first thing in the morning. As the county explained, there were issues when the polls first started to open, but those issues were resolved."

Several polling sites in Apache County were not effectively open at the legally required time of 6 a.m., as poll workers were unable to issue ballots, the complaint said. Those were Lukachukai, Lupton, Rock Point, Cottonwood, St. Michaels, Wheatfields, and Dennehotso. Voters were initially unable to vote.

"At Chinle, voters were leaving because they ran out of printed ballots and the lines were too long for the accessible voting devices," stated the complaint. "Some locations such as Fort Defiance, Chinle, Dennehotso, Luckachukai, and St. Michaels had long lines up to 3.5 hours. Some voters were sent to other voting locations, despite Apache County being a precinct-based county."

The Navajo Nation's counsel contacted Apache county officials about the polling locations that failed to open on time. The county denied that any polling locations were nonoperational, acknowledged issues, but claimed most were resolved by 11:30 a.m.

"Even if we open the polls back up, people won't be able to make it back in to vote," Nygren said. "It's not like people live down the street to go vote. The best way to communicate on Navajo is through radio, but even if radio announcements went out, by the time they hear the announcements, it could be too late. It's unfortunate."

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Voting hours extended in Navajo Nation after glitches