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Election spurs questions around voting barriers for Indigenous people

Two recent events highlight how knowing Indigenous peoples' voting rights history provides context for present challenges.
Arizona Department of Safety officers surround and handcuff an Indigenous demonstrator during an O'odham-led blockade at a Border Patrol checkpoint on Highway 85 on October 12, 2020.

Indigenous Peoples' Day border demonstration ends with tear gas, arrests

11 demonstrators taken into DPS custody during a Border Patrol checkpoint blockade in Pima County.
Deer dancer statue outside of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe's administration building.

Pascua Yaqui Tribe sues over ballot access

The tribe's hope is the lawsuit against the Pima County Recorder's Office will lead to an early in-person voting site in the reservation.
Legislation making its way through Congress aims to reaffirm that tribal epidemiology centers should have access to state and federal health data. Tribal leaders have had trouble accessing information to help fight COVID-19 and other diseases in places like the Navajo Nation, where this sign stands.

Bill pressures CDC to give Native Americans better access to federal health data

Experts say the pandemic has further exposed limits to Native American communities' access to accurate health data.
An O'odham demonstrator stands in front of a pickup truck trying to break through a highway blockade the morning of Oct. 5, 2020.

O'odham-led demonstration blocks highway north of Arizona-Sonora border crossing

Demonstrations against border wall construction on ancestral Indigenous land continue despite Quitobaquito closure.
Tribal members and supporters gather in front of the construction line to wave down O'odham runners coming from Sonora ahead of a cross-border ceremony at Quitobaquito Springs on Sept. 27, 2020.

NPS closes route to Quitobaquito Springs

Closure comes a day after O'odham leaders held a cross-border ceremony at the spring.
A screenshot from a Facebook Live video voting advocates hosted Sept. 28, 2020, to answer Native American Arizonans' questions about voting.

Voting advocates answer questions in virtual town hall geared for Native Americans

The panel of experts gave presentations that addressed historical and modern voting barriers for Native Americans.
Deer dancer statue outside of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe's administration building.

Campaign Legal Center to represent Pascua Yaqui Tribe in early voting site dispute with county

The tribe is taking the next step to get the Pima County Recorder's Office to reinstate an early voting site it closed in 2018.

Governor says Indigenous Peoples' Day to be celebrated in 2020

Gov. Doug Ducey signed a proclamation recognizing the 'historic injustices suffered by Indigenous people.'
Demonstrators struggle as National Park Service officers and Border Patrol agents try to pull people from a fallen human chain during a demonstration at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on Sept. 21, 2020.

Stand off with Border Patrol, National Park Service ends in scuffle with Indigenous-led demonstrators

O'odham organizers and their supporters stopped construction for over five hours at Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
A sign instructs Pima County voters casting their ballots on primary election day, Aug. 4, 2020.

Registering to vote online without traditional addresses, plus codes

The change increases online registration access for rural and tribal voters.
An envelope containing Pima County's vote-by-mail ballot.

Pima Board of Supervisors supports Pascua Yaqui early voting site

The board calls on the Pima County Recorder's Office to enact the changes authorized in the resolution it passed.
A Hia-Ced O'odham protester sits inside a vehicle to block construction on a stretch of border wall going up in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument on Sept. 9, 2020.

Indigenous activists arrested in demonstration against border wall construction near Quitobaquito Springs

Two O'odham protesters were arrested for impeding construction in Organ Pipe Cactus National Monument.
A Census Bureau plan to move up the deadline to end “enumeration,” the process of counting U.S. residents, from Oct. 31 to Sept. 30 was put on hold by a federal judge. Critics, including the Navajo and Gila River tribes, had sued to block the move, which they said would lead to an undercount, particularly for minority communities.

Judge halts plan to end Census early, as Arizona, tribal responses lag

The order said plaintiffs in the case had raised "serious questions" about the bureau's plan to stop counting.
Old Main on the University of Arizona campus.

New UA appointment tasked with Native American student achievement

Nathan Levi Esquerra will be the first to fill the new role.
Cracked mud flats appear on the surface of Quitobaquito pond on July 18, 2020.

Report highlights biodiversity loss at Quitobaquito during border wall construction

Borderland scientists say that with all the noise "neither the birds nor the bird watchers want to be at Quitobaquito right now."

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