The potential obstacles range from issues with access to traditional mail services, to a lack of broadband connectivity, and in some cases, cultural communication barriers.
pandemic, some leaders in Native American communities are worried their voters could be left behind if voting by mail becomes the overwhelming norm for conducting the 2020 election.
Steve Yankton and Nathaniel Badmilk speak to drivers during a lockdown at the entrance to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in Pine Ridge, S.D., April 15, 2020.“We've tried to point out to people -- you got to stack all of these things on top of each other,” Natalie Landreth, a senior staff attorney with Native American Rights Fund said in an interview with ABC News.
A road sign outside Bloomfield, N.M., warns Navajos to stay home during their nation's 8 p.m. to 5 a.m. curfew to slow the spread of the coronavirus, on April 7, 2020. “Often rural mail will be collected and postmarked somewhere else,” Landreth says. “So if you mailed [your ballot] on election day or the day before, even two days before, it's going to look like it's late through no fault of your own.”
“We could see millions of Americans who typically register in the lead up to election being shut out of the process unless we make registration options available to them -- standing online registration, making sure that registration is available to people who don't have driver's licenses, making sure people who don't have internet access being registered as well,” said Wendy Weiser, a vice president and director at the Brennan Center for Justice Democracy Program during a recent...
According to a press release from Haaland’s office, the Government Accountability Office cites “the lack of wireless connectivity in Indian Country has left approximately 1.5 million people on tribal lands without access to fundamental services, which is lower than some third world countries.”Rep. Deb Haaland at a news conference at the U.S. Capitol Sept. 27, 2019 in Washington, D.C.
Early voting ahead of New Mexico’s June 2 primary election began on Tuesday, and voters can request absentee ballots through May 28, and limited options for in-person voting will be available later this month. Haaland says the various accommodations allow her constituents to vote in a manner that doesn’t put their health ahead of their voting rights.
“The reality is that not everyone is going to be able to vote by mail,” Perez acknowledged, “In part, some of it is going to be a technological limitation because there are going to be folks who can't get their applications processed on time or folks who are unfamiliar with the system.” Landreth explains that these buildings could open at the same time as a particular state’s early voting period, and with enough resources, could serve as one-stop shops for Native American voter registration, ballot mailing, and translation services all on tribal land.
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