Proposed restrictions would make voting harder for Arizonaâs tribal communities
Native American voters helped secure President Joe Bidenâs narrow win in 2020, but Republican-backed proposals at the state legislature to restrict voting access could make the challenges tribal voters overcame last year even more daunting in 2022.
âWe have the lowest voter turnout of any minority group in the country, period,â said Navajo Nation member and Democratic state Rep. Jasmine Blackwater-Nygren. âWe already have so many barriers in access to voting in general that any voter suppression bill would only increase that disparity.â
One bill would require proof of identification with mail-in ballots, which Torey Dolan said will create difficulties for Native voters. Dolan is a Native Vote fellow at Arizona State Universityâs Indian Law Clinic and a member of the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma.