Covering elections as a journalist on the Navajo Nation can be challenging due to the sheer size of their tribal land in Arizona. But what often gets lost is that Indigenous voters face those same challenges — not to do their job, but to participate in their own governance and have their voice heard.
The Arizona primary election was on Tuesday, and as part of my job, I visited different polling locations to see if any voters wanted to chat about the election. Spoiler: No one wanted to, at least on the record.
I have always covered state elections from the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona, and was struck this year by just how difficult it was — and how different it is from driving to multiple polling locations in Maricopa County.
On Tuesday, I spent the day driving around the Navajo Nation and some parts of the Hopi Nation, stopping off at polling locations in Navajo and Apache counties. By the end of the day, I had spent nearly 10 hours in my car, driving more than 250 miles, and visited only 10 polling locations. If I were in Maricopa County, I would’ve hit 10 polling locations within a few hours and far fewer miles.
Read the full story at ICT
