Native Voters Could Swing the 2020 Election—If They’re Able to Vote

Four Direc­tions is assist­ing Nava­jo plain­tiffs with a fed­er­al vot­ing-rights law­suit that fea­tures the mail study. The law­suit asks Ari­zona to allow addi­tion­al time for Nava­jo mail-in bal­lots to be counted. 

Bret Healy, a con­sul­tant for the group, puts it this way: “[Mail ser­vice on the reser­va­tion] was bad before the pan­dem­ic, and any slow­down or con­fu­sion makes it worse.” Healy pre­dicts a ​“cat­a­stroph­ic drop” in vot­er turnout across Indi­an coun­try if such prob­lems aren’t fixed.

Mean­while, in the Dako­tas, the Stand­ing Rock Sioux Tribe and the Lako­ta People’s Law Project recent­ly joined Sen. Tom Udall (D‑N.M.) and U.S. House Assis­tant Speak­er Ben Ray Luján (D‑N.M.) to work on pas­sage of the Native Amer­i­can Vot­ing Rights Act. The bill would man­date acces­si­ble polling places, increased vot­er reg­is­tra­tion, bet­ter access to fed­er­al elec­tion mon­i­tors and oth­er improve­ments for Native communities.

[Read more here.]

Source: In These Times; 10/2/20