A Message from the Executive Director
Executive Director of Arizona Native Vote, Jaynie Parrish
One thing we know about the 2024 election results is that we have an amazing team of organizers. We are grateful for every organizer, donor, partner, and volunteer who contributed to the success of reaching voters in our region. This is the work on the ground that’s so important.
It will be a few more days before we have thorough analysis of voter and precinct level data. However, early indications suggest that voters on Hopi and White Mountain Apache lands turned out in greater numbers than during the 2020 Presidential election, and on the Navajo Nation, despite serious obstacles at polling locations - from bomb threats to viral misinformation to polling location malfunctions, tribal citizens overcame challenges to exercise their right to vote. Overall, preliminary data suggest that voters on tribal lands turned out at higher rates than the rest of Arizona. It’s already clear that voters across the sovereign lands of northeast Arizona were a significant force on November 5th.
Arizona Native Vote went into the final days of the election having already logged over 3,200 in-person conversations with tribal citizens and with postcards out to another 10,000. Our Young People's Program visited 10 high schools across the Navajo Nation engaging hundreds of new first time voters. Youth organizers made their last round of visits for this semester in late November and are already preparing for Spring 2025.
Here are some early highlights from our Get Out The Vote and Election Day efforts:
We were able to have folks in place on Tuesday to help people vote from Tuba City to Polacca to Cibecue to Lukachukai to Kayenta - it was a heroic effort for a little organization like ours. Our field teams alone had direct contact during GOTV with more than 4,700 voters - and if you add the voters reached through our vote-tripling work, we reached more than 13,000 voters on Election Day.
Voters across all our communities had support to make their voices heard at the ballot box and helped vote in several Indigenous candidates and allies across Apache, Navajo, and Coconino Counties who will stand up to protect tribal sovereignty and more.
Voters in our region also stepped up to help pass Proposition 139 - Right to Abortion Initiative at a higher rate than the rest of the state. With over 70% of the vote and 8.5% higher than the rest of the state. Proposition 139 enshrines the right to abortion in the Arizona Constitution. Abortion is a sensitive topic and not always talked about publicly in our communities, but thanks to several of our Diné matriarchs they opened up these discussions. They lent their voice and leadership to help create factual and trusted education efforts in Navajo and English. This advisory work group, created several op-eds, radio messages, and overall communication effort were the first of its kind created to help educate community members about the ballot measure. We will continue to center women and girls, healthcare, and more in our organizing work.
Arizona Native Vote team members were called upon to protect the voting rights of tribal citizens in this election, first to assist voters and encourage them to stay in line on Election Day. Nine polling locations in Apache County on the Navajo Nation experienced many challenges throughout the day and resulted in voters waiting more than 3 hours in the cold to vote. Several voting machines went down and ballots ran out. Our team was again called on to fight for each voter’s right to be heard by traveling hundreds of miles ahead of the Sunday, November 5th 5pm deadline to assist dozens of Navajo Nation voters in “curing” their ballots. We will have more to write about our experience fighting for those voters’ right to cast a ballot. Know that we are always learning about how acts like these deeply impact our voters.We know for many of our team and community members, the outcome of the election was hard. The day after election day, we immediately came together to create space for folks to share. We also know our team and community members are at different stages of processing and we remain committed to reconnecting and staying engaged with voters. Others are ready to get back to work. As we work through these phases, know that we are constantly moving forward and setting new goals and ready to meet these challenges head-on.
We know for many of our team and community members, the outcome of the election was hard. The day after election day, we immediately came together to create space for folks to share. We also know our team and community members are at different stages of processing and we remain committed to reconnecting and staying engaged with voters. Others are ready to get back to work. As we work through these phases, know that we are constantly moving forward and setting new goals and ready to meet these challenges head-on.
Arizona Native Vote was founded to increase voter education and engagement, set a strong grassroots infrastructure, while also building a bench of skilled organizers and leaders who may run for office, lead campaigns, and more. Protecting voting rights and practicing community organizing focused on improving civic and electoral systems is generational work and we need more opportunities to support our communities through these shifts.
Our growth and impact have been inspiring. We started this campaign in January of 2023 – when we officially received our IRS letter to operate as a 501c3 non-profit. We had one employee. By May 2023 there were six of us. Then, a year after that, there were 15 of us. By Election Day this year we had 20 organizers working across three counties and on 4 tribal nations. The work of our team has been all about service and a long-term commitment to ensuring that rural and Native voters on tribal lands have a say in the governance and public policies that impact our lives. As we move forward, our leadership team will be crafting a plan to address some of the new challenges our communities now face after the election, as we continue to focus on our core work of engaging tribal citizens.
Protecting voting rights and access for Indigenous and rural communities will be critical in the coming years, especially as our communities continue to be targeted. Voters in our region saw first hand and experienced several challenges leading up to election day, on election day, and even after election day during the ballot curing process. Arizona Native Vote continues to identify critical funding gaps that hinder our ability to fully support a comprehensive and year round approach to civic and voter education, engagement and protection efforts. Specifically, additional resources are needed to expand outreach to more remote communities, provide comprehensive training for organizers, and enhance digital voter education campaigns and direct communication to counter misinformation. Future partnerships with Public Wise could include multi-year funding commitments to ensure sustained engagement and capacity-building, as well as joint advocacy initiatives to address systemic issues in tribal and rural election infrastructure. We also encourage Public Wise to explore more opportunities to foster collaboration among its grantees through shared learning sessions or regional convenings, which would strengthen collective impact. We welcome follow-up discussions to explore these ideas further and deepen our partnership for future election cycles.
We thank you for the care and energy that you have contributed to Arizona Native Vote and to support our voters through a challenging election season. Stay connected with us as we begin planning and strategizing for 2025 and the 2026 Midterm elections. We welcome your continued support.
