09/18/2026
We need to keep working towards making voting more accessible to Indigenous voters 💯
Our voices matter, our voices have power.
Indigenous people continue to face barriers throughout the election process. Native American Rights Fund (NARF) 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%.
“Voting is not just one act,” Allison Neswood, who is Navajo and a senior staff attorney at NARF, 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.”
San Juan County officials said their county clerk’s office accommodates nonstandard residential addresses and works with voters to resolve incomplete or questionable registration applications before rejecting them.
NARF says improving election infrastructure and access in Indian Country could help address the problem.
🎙️ Reporting by ’s Daniel Spaulding with the Mountain West News Bureau
📷 cmannphoto / Getty Images
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