PHOENIX — The Indian Citizenship Act was signed into law in June 1924, granting Indigenous people born in the United States citizenship and the right to vote . Although this was 100 years ago, today Indigenous people in Arizona still face many challenges when it comes to the electoral process at the federal, state and local levels.
Despite the law, Native Americans still faced many suppression tactics. In 1948, the Arizona Supreme Court overturned a ruling prohibiting Indigenous people from voting in the state. Even after the Voting Rights Act was passed by Congress in 1965, reinforcing Indigenous voting rights, English literacy tests were given as a requirement to vote until the 1970s.
Today, a new set of challenges has hindered civic engagement in Indigenous communities across the state. From hours of traveling to get to a polling station to trouble with addresses for mail-in ballots, there are a variety of complex issues at play.
In August, the Supreme Court ruled that Arizona could enforce a law requiring voters to show proof of citizenship when registering. The law was introduced in 2022 under Republican Gov. Doug Ducey but was struck down by the courts. The Republican National Committee along with Arizona GOP lawmakers appealed the ruling, getting it overturned just months before the general election.