“Votebeat is a nonprofit news organization reporting on voting access and election administration across the U.S. Sign up for Votebeat Arizona’s free newsletter here. After years of lobbying by tribal officials, Apache County will move to a new voting model for the upcoming midterm election, a shift expected to reduce the number of tribal voters’ ballots rejected because they were cast in the wrong precinct. The county, located in the remote, northeastern corner of Arizona, oversees voting in large swaths of the Navajo Nation and the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. For years, it has used a precinct-based model in which voters are assigned polling places based on the voting district, or precinct, in which they reside. But tribal voters often don’t have standard street addresses, and county, precinct, and reservation lines often crisscross. That means a voters’ assigned polling place may not be the closest or most intuitive location, and the vast distances and lack of transportation on tribal land mean it often isn’t easy to redirect voters to the correct site. The system has long led to proportionally more rejected ballots in Apache County. Nearly 1,300 provisional ballots were rejected there in 2024, or about 3.9% of all ballots cast, according to data tracked by the U.S. Election Assistance Commission . Of those, about 34% were rejected for being cast in the wrong precinct. That’s not a new problem. In 2020, voters in Apache County saw a higher percentage of provisional ballots rejected than any other county in the state, according to a Votebeat analysis of federal data . That year, about 35% of the provisional ballots not counted there were rejected because registered voters had voted in the wrong precinct. Now, the county will adopt a voting model used by most others in Arizona — and already in place in all of the other counties that cover portions of the Navajo Nation, which spans three states and is the largest reservation in the country by both geographic size and population. The Apache County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously on Tuesday to switch to a vote-center model, according to a county board meeting action agenda and a recording of the meeting obtained by Votebeat from All Voting is Local, a national organization that advocates for legislation and policies that increase voter access. Under the new system, voters will be able to cast ballots at any polling site in the county. In other jurisdictions, the switch has essentially eliminated the need to use provisional ballots when voters go to the wrong precinct — including in Coconino and Navajo counties, the other two jurisdictions containing parts of the Navajo Nation in Arizona. “This is democracy in action, and it’s very exciting to see,” said Jaynie Parrish, executive director of Arizona Native Vote, a group that aims to expand civic engagement among tribal and rural voters. “We know it won’t solve everything, but it’s a very good first step.” Tribal officials, advocacy groups long lobbied for change In Arizona, it’s up to counties to offer vote centers or stick to a precinct-based voting model. In 2020, Navajo Nation Attorney General Doreen McPaul said in congressional testimony that during the 2014 and 2016 general elections, Native American voters were vastly overrepresented in the share of voters who had to cast provisional ballots. Since then, tribal leaders and activists have been pushing for changes. In Apache County, the issue came to a head during the 2024 election, after voters stood in line for hours in cold weather amid widespread equipment failures on Election Day . The Navajo Nation filed an emergency lawsuit, and an Apache County Superior Court judge ultimately ordered select polling places to stay open for two hours past the originally scheduled closing time. Attorneys with the Navajo Nation Department of Justice noted in their subsequent lawsuit that tribal voters in Apache County “must vote at assigned polling locations for their ballots to be valid and counted,” unless they cast their ballots using accessible voting machines that are legally required to be available at every voting location. Those devices are designed to assist voters with disabilities and contain all of the ballot styles used countywide, rather than just ballot styles for the precincts assigned to that polling place. In that lawsuit, the tribe unsuccessfully sought to force county officials to “accept and count out-of-precinct ballots that were not cast on accessible voting devices due to the machines not being operable for part of the day.” The 2024 problems added urgency to tribal groups’ push for vote centers. In a Feb. 5 letter , Navajo Nation President Buu Nygren, Council Speaker Crystalyne Curley, and other tribal leaders stressed that they strongly supported a vote-center model in Apache County. “Most Navajo voters drive a very long distance to cast their votes on Election Day,” the letter read. “If they drive to the wrong precinct — a frequent and easy mistake to make on the Navajo Nation — they may not have time, transportation, or fuel funds to then drive another long way to get to their sole precinct polling place.” They weren’t the only ones putting pressure on county officials. Tonia Tunnell of the Arizona Secretary of State’s Office said on Tuesday that she had been working with county officials to facilitate the change. Parrish, of Arizona Native Vote, said her group helped more than 50 voters submit statements in support of the move prior to the county board’s vote. She said she was “very pleased” by its decision. “There’s much more to do,” she said in a text message, adding that her organization was focused on helping tribal voters obtain IDs, submit proof of citizenship to state officials, and arrange transportation to the polls for the upcoming midterm election. “But [I] will take a moment today and be happy and excited about this update.” Sasha Hupka is a reporter for Votebeat based in Arizona. Contact Sasha at shupka@votebeat.org .
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