Raising Arizona

Arizona captured the country's attention this week. Did anyone expect Arizona, a state typically associated with the Republican party, to turn blue so quickly on election maps? Media outlets are drilling down into counties’ data and making, as late as this hour, predictions about the incoming votes from Maricopa County. There's a number of reasons we can point to as possibilities for the state's surprising blue shift, including Cindy McCain’s advocacy, but today we're focused on one of the most intense Get Out The Vote campaigns this election cycle: Every Native Vote Counts.

Native American organizers worked tirelessly to register new voters, energize existing voters, distribute information about candidates, and thwart any attempts at voter suppression. This wasn't easy work and those organizers deserve their flowers. Arizona's policies present a few serious hurdles for Native American voters. For example: voting precincts are sometimes established without talking to tribes. Those precincts don't always align with where people vote in tribal elections, creating confusion. Some states will accept ballots cast in the wrong precinct in certain elections, but that's not Arizona's policy.

What about that blue ripple across the state? AZ Central spoke to Marlyn Willie, an Apache County voter who typically supports Republican candidates. He voted for former Vice President Joe Biden, because he believes President Trump has handled the pandemic poorly. Indigenous communities in the U.S. were hit particularly hard by COVID-19 and they were given very few timely resources from the federal government. If you look at NPR's election data, he isn't alone. As of this post (understandably, the vote is still being counted and this could change), 68% of Apache County voted for Joe Biden.

Learn more by reading TIME's "Native Americans Could Help Swing Arizona—But Many Struggle to Cast Their Ballot" and AZ Central's "Navajo and Hopi voters turn out in force on Election Day, hoping for a clear voice."