Voter Suppression of Native Americans in Arizona - Arizona Native Voter Suppression Fact Sheet

Oct 16, 2026

Uploaded by Ivy

Voter suppression in Arizona targets Native Americans through legal barriers, discriminatory policies, and persistent administrative and infrastructure failures. The document argues that Native communities lack equitable access to voting under the current state approach, including language access restrictions, intimidation, and limits on assistance like ballot collection. It further details how poverty, poor infrastructure, long distances to registration and early voting, and address-related eligibility disputes impede participation across reservations.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages3

Reading Time8 min

AccessFree to download

Key claims and impact

Arizona’s hostility toward Native voters

Infrastructure failures and election participation

Distance to registration, early voting, and polling places

Discrimination tied to lack of addresses

Voter Suppression of Native Americans in Arizona Native Americans in Arizona urgently need a fully functioning Voting Rights Act and a federal baseline of voter access. Native Americans in Arizona continue to face discrimination and are denied equitable opportunities to vote. Native Americans in Arizona deserve the civil rights protections provided by the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act which incorporates the Native American Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act. Without these protections, Native Americans in Arizona will continue to be unfairly denied their basic rights as American citizens. NATIVE AMERICANS CAN SWING ELECTIONS IN ARIZONA. Notwithstanding barriers to voting, Native Americans make a difference in election outcomes. In 2018, Senator Kyrsten Sinema (D-Ariz.) won by 55,000 votes. On-reservation precincts in Arizona cast 67,996 votes. Native Americans also made a difference in the 2020 Presidential election. President Biden swung Arizona by just over 10,000 votes. Voters on the Hopi and Navajo reservations in northeastern Arizona alone cast nearly 60,000 ballots. ARIZONA WAS AND REMAINS HOSTILE TOWARDS NATIVE AMERICAN VOTERS. Well aware of the potential of Native American political power, Arizona was one of the last states to allow Native Americans to vote at all, arguing in a 1948 case that two World War II veterans were incompetent to vote because they were Native American. Harrison v. Laveen, 196 P.2d 456 (Ariz. 1948) . Until the 1970s, Arizona maintained an English literacy requirement that effectively prevented most Arizona Native Americans from voting. Arizona required voters to pass an English literacy test as a prerequisite to voter registration. Ariz. Rev. Stat. §16-101(A)(4)-(5) (1956) . In 1988, the United States brought suit against Arizona for continuing to deny Native voters language assistance and “unlawfully deny[ing] or abridge[ing] the voting rights of Navajo citizens.” United States v. Arizona, No. 99-1989 (D. Ariz. May 22, 1989) (Consent Decree) (as amended Sept. 7, 1993) . In 2006, the Department of Justice reported instances of harassment and voter intimidation by polling officials against members of the Navajo Nation. The Federal Examiner and Observer Program, Hearing Before the Subcomm. on the Constitution of the H. Comm. on the Judiciary, 109th Cong. 16 (2005) (statement of Penny Pew) . And in 2020, the Supreme Court upheld Arizona’s ban on ballot collection assistance that the 9th Circuit had previously found to be intentional discrimination in part because Arizona was well aware of the law’s disenfranchising effects on Native Americans. Brnovich v. DNC, 141 S. Ct. 2321 (2021) . INFRASTRUCTURE FAILURES IN ARIZONA CONTRIBUTE TO VOTER SUPPRESSION. Today, 32.9 % of Native Americans live in poverty, more than twice the statewide average. Infrastructure remains poor with some Native homes lacking access to running water and unpaved dirt roads making travel difficult. Many Native homes across Arizona remain unaddressed and lack residential mail delivery. Basic needs like a working vehicle and filling a tank to gas to travel to vote can be hard to meet. For example, in some parts of the Navajo Nation only one in ten families owns a vehicle. Brief for the Navajo Nation as Amicus Curiae Supporting Respondents in Brnovich v. Democratic Nat’l Comm., 594 U.S (2021), at 14. Indifferent to, or capitalizing upon, these infrastructure failures election officials in Arizona discriminate against Native Americans. REGISTRATION, EARLY VOTING, AND POLLING PLACES ARE TOO FAR FROM NATIVE AMERICANS IN ARIZONA. County seats, often the only places where Native Americans can access registration and early voting services are prohibitively far away. • For the Kaibab Paiute, early voting is only located at this county seat 285 miles away. This requires a five to seven hour trip around the Grand Canyon. • Navajo voters in Teec Nos Pos must travel 95 miles one way

FAQs

Why does the document say Native Americans in Arizona need federal voting protections?

It states that Native Americans continue to face discrimination and are denied equitable opportunities to vote, so they require civil rights protections from federal laws that establish a baseline of voter access.

What election outcomes does the document describe Native Americans influencing?

It notes that Native Americans can swing elections in Arizona, citing 2018 Senate and 2020 Presidential election examples where votes from reservation areas affected statewide margins.

How does the document explain suppression through infrastructure and access barriers?

It attributes suppression to poverty and infrastructure problems, such as limited running water, poor roads, lack of mail delivery, and transportation difficulty, alongside long travel distances to registration, early voting, and polling locations.

Oct 16, 2026

Uploaded by Ivy