BACKGROUND:
When Arizona House Bill 2492 was passed, it required that individuals provide a government-issued photo ID that contains or is paired with another document that contains the person’s current physical address. Otherwise, the individual must provide two documents that contain their current physical address.
The requirements ignore the lack of standardized addressing on homes on Tribal lands in Arizona, which will make it difficult if not impossible for many Tribal members to register to vote. Homes on Tribal reservations in Arizona are significantly more likely to lack a standard physical address than homes in non-Native areas. More than 40,000 homes on Native American reservations across Arizona do not have physical addresses. The lack of postal delivery also means most residents of the two Tribes’ reservations do not have any documents that include both their name and an address corresponding with the physical location of their home.
On September 14, 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Susan R. Bolton ruled in favor of the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Gila River Indian Community and Native youth held that the proof of address requirements in Arizona HB 2492 are preempted by the National Voter Registration Act. (The case was consolidated with related cases under the case name Mi Familia Vota v. Arizona.)
CASE UPDATES:
November 2022: Case Filed in Arizona Federal District Court
On November 7, 2022, the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Gila River Indian Community filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona challenging the proof of address requirements included in Arizona
If Arizona implements the new requirement, most people who lack a standard physical address on their home will be completely unable to register to vote. Others who lack a standard physical address will be unable to vote until obtaining a standard street address for their home—a severely burdensome process, beyond the control of the individual, that can take years, or even decades.
The new restrictions do not comply with federal voter registration requirements in the National Voter Registration Act. That law requires states to use the federal voter registration form for federal elections.
“Arizona cannot disenfranchise Native voters by creating an illegal obstacle course that eliminates many Tribal citizens from participating in U.S. elections. The inequitable effect that H.B. 2492 would have on Native voters who live on the Tohono O’odham reservation is absolutely unconstitutional and severely restricts our freedom to vote,” said Tohono O’odham Chairman Ned Norris, Jr.
“The proof of address requirements in H.B. 2492 is a way for elected officials to pick and choose who can vote in Arizona, however, the Tohono O’odham and Gila River Tribal governments will defend the legal rights that our peoples share with other U.S. voters,” said Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Roe Lewis.
“H.B. 2492 will disenfranchise Native voters with non-traditional addresses that are commonplace on Tribal lands. The fundamental right to vote cannot be limited to only those with physical street addresses, particularly where the measure ensures many Native voters will be unable to meet that discriminatory requirement,” said James Tucker, Senior Special Counsel, Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law.
“Arizona’s discriminatory proof of address requirements will disproportionately affect residents on Native American reservations across Arizona. NARF proudly represents the Tohono O’odham and Gila River Tribes in taking a stand on this matter for the rights of their affected members,” said NARF Staff Attorney Allison Neswood.
Represented by the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, and Osborn Maledon, P.A., the Tribal governments also requested an injunction to stop H.B. 2492 from taking effect while under consideration of the court.
December 2022: Amended Complaint Filed
On December 9, 2022, the Tohono O’odham Nation and the Gila River Indian Community filed an amended complaint in the U.S. District Court for the District of Arizona adding three Native youth to their lawsuit challenging the proof of address requirements included in Arizona H.B. 2492. Under the new law, citizens who want to vote must provide proof of a physical address in an additional pre-registration process required for the first time ever in Arizona.
“When I become eligible to vote next year, the physical address requirements in H.B. 2492 mean I won’t be able to register to vote,” said 17-year-old Keanu Stevens. “As Indigenous people, our voices matter and I stand with our Tribal Nations against the one-sided decision of Arizona lawmakers. Everyone should be allowed to vote, even those who can’t provide a physical address.”
“My home is in Second Mesa on the Hopi Reservation and each government-issued ID I have lists either a post office box or a description of my home location because my house does not have a physical address like 123 Main St.,” said student LaDonna Jacket. “When I turn 18 in May, this law means Arizona will not let me register to vote.”
Individual voters living on Tribal lands do not have control over the process to obtain a physical address, a process that varies from location to location and can take years, or even decades to complete. The Native American Rights Fund (NARF), the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, Osborn Maledon, P.A, and DLA Piper brought Tohono O’odham v. Brnovich to prevent Arizona’s physical address requirements from disenfranchising Native voters en masse. The amended complaint adds Stevens, Jacket, and Alanna Siquieros to the lawsuit as plaintiffs alongside the Tribes.
“If in place when I turn 18 next year, the physical address requirements in this law will block me from casting a vote,” said Siquieros of Sells Village on the Tohono O’odham reservation. “H.B. 2492 has to go, because it allows elected people in power to weed out specific groups of people and keep them from voting.”
September 2023: Court Rules in Favor of Native Voters and Tribes
On September 14, 2023, U.S. District Court Judge Susan R. Bolton ruled in favor of the Tohono O’odham Nation, the Gila River Indian Community and Native youth held that the proof of address requirements in Arizona HB 2492 are preempted by the National Voter Registration Act. (The case was consolidated with related cases under the case name Mi Familia Vota v. Arizona.)
Under Judge Bolton’s ruling, the bill’s address requirements must be liberally interpreted so that no one is required to have a standard street address in order to vote and so that numerous documents can be used to satisfy the requirement, including an Arizona-issued ID listing only a P.O. Box or any Tribal identification document, regardless of whether it has an address.
“The Gila River Indian Community is pleased with this decision, which will ensure our Community members can exercise their right to vote using Tribal identification and our Reservation addresses,” said Gila River Indian Community Governor Stephen Lewis. “We continue to fight for our voice to be heard through our vote and will resist any attempts to suppress our votes because, as we have shown in the last several elections, our Community’s vote counts and the Native vote matters.”
Tohono O’odham Nation Chairman Verlon Jose said, “This is a great day for the Tohono O’odham Nation and all Arizona Tribes. This decision reaffirms that Tribal citizens have the same constitutional voting rights as every other American. The Nation will always fight to uphold our people’s right to vote, which is the foundation of our democracy. We want to thank the Native American Rights Fund for working with us to bring about this momentous ruling.”
September 2024: The Case Against Unreasonable Voter Laws in Arizona Continues
The Arizona Elections Procedures manual published in December 2023 and updated in January 2024, incorporates the proof of location of residence relief obtained by the Tribal Nations in 2023. No party has appealed this relief, so the Tribes’ case is concluded.
However, other parties and issues related to proof of citizenship continued forward in the case. In November 2023, those parties went to trial in Mi Familia Vota v. Fontes. Final judgement in the case was issued on May 2, 2024. Since that ruling, appeals have been filed. In late September 2024, mere weeks before the election, the U.S. Supreme Court stopped the lower court’s ruling that had blocked election officials from automatically rejecting state voter registration forms without documentary proof of citizenship.
While this ruling does not affect the Tribal Nations’ documentary proof of residence relief, the ruling is forcing last-minute changes to longstanding voter registration practices in Arizona, which complicate things for election administrators and voters. It is important for Native voters in Arizona to know that they can satisfy the documentary proof of residence requirement by providing their Tribal enrollment number and that other options include a state ID with a US flag on it, a US passport, or a birth certificate. To be registered to vote in federal, state, and local elections, documentary proof of citizenship is necessary. If eligible voters cannot provide documentary proof of citizenship, they can register using the federal voter registration form to register to vote for president and members of Congress, but they will not be able to vote in state and local elections.
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