Navajos win suit for voting access
Utah county switch to mail-in ballots disadvantaged tribe
SALT LAKE CITY — Navajos who once worried they would have to drive hours to cast their ballots in Utah say a court settlement is a step forward as tribes challenge what they call discriminatory voting practices around the United States.
The agreement that requires tribally accessible polling places and Navajo-language help is a victory for voting rights after a switch to mail-in balloting in southern Utah’s San Juan County left behind native voters, the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah said Thursday.
County officials, though, said they’re committed to fair elections and took the steps themselves without the lawsuit they criticized as a waste of taxpayer money.
San Juan County is also appealing an order to redraw voting districts that a federal judge found discriminated against native voters in a separate case.
Similar legal clashes have been waged recently over early-voting access in Nevada, native language assistance in Alaska and voter ID laws in North Dakota.
“We’re seeing a lot of the same access issues throughout the country,” said James Tucker, an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, part of a coalition holding field hearings nationwide.
The growing push toward mail-in ballots can affect voter access in remote native communities where the mail service can be intermittent or unreliable.
For older tribal elders who may not speak or read English, the reading of ballots and specific instructions on how to seal and mail them can be particularly challenging, he said.
In Utah, the ACLU and the Navajo Nation Human Rights Commission sued San Juan County in 2016.
Shortly after the case was filed, San Juan County re-opened three polling places in and around the Navajo Nation.