Indigenous people continue to face barriers throughout the election process. That's according to a new report that says those challenges can begin well before a voter reaches the ballot box.
The report from the Native American Rights Fund says voting disparities have deep historical roots. Even after Native Americans were granted U.S. citizenship in 1924, some states continued using laws and voting requirements that prevented Native people from casting ballots.
The Voting Rights Act of 1965 removed many of those restrictions, but the Native American Rights Fund says barriers remain today.
The Native American Rights Fund analyzed federal data from 2020 through 2024 and found issues ranging from voter registration rejections to difficulties with mail-in ballots. In counties where Native Americans make up at least one-quarter of the population, rejected voter registration applications increased by an average of 200%.
Allison Neswood, who is Navajo and a senior staff attorney at the Native American Rights Fund, said the findings provide new statistical evidence of long-standing voting barriers in Native communities.
"Voting is not just one act," Neswood said. "It's a series of steps from acquiring identity documents to registering to vote, to casting a ballot, to having that ballot counted, and the report illustrates that Native people are more likely to get hung up every step along the way."
The study focused on counties with high Native populations, including Apache and Navajo counties in Arizona, and Cibola, McKinley, and San Juan counties in New Mexico.
San Juan County officials said they have taken steps to address some of those barriers. The county clerk's office said it accommodates nonstandard residential addresses and works with voters to resolve incomplete or questionable registration applications before rejecting them.
"When we receive a voter registration application with missing our questionable information, rejection is not our first response," the clerk's office said. "Our staff makes every effort to resolve the issue."
No other county in the Mountain West mentioned in the report responded to a request for comment for this story.
The Native American Rights Fund said improving election infrastructure and access in Indian Country could help address the problem.
"It's long overdue in our communities, which have had so much taken from them in the history of our country," Neswood said.
This story was produced by the Mountain West News Bureau, a collaboration between Boise State Public Radio, Wyoming Public Media, Nevada Public Radio, KUNR in Nevada, KUNC in Northern Colorado, KANW in New Mexico, Colorado Public Radio and KJZZ in Arizona as well as NPR, with support from affiliate newsrooms across the region. Funding for the Mountain West News Bureau is provided in part by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting and Eric and Wendy Schmidt.
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