With only a limited number of available polling stations across the 27,000 square miles of the Navajo (Diné) Nation, a space that spans portions of Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah and is roughly the size of West Virginia, many Navajo voters face poor access to voter registration offices and polling stations, limited transportation, and excessive mail delays, among other logistical hurdles. Historically, Native communities have been marginalized and discouraged from participating in elections. It took until the 1965 with the passage of the Voting Rights Act for Native Americans to receive the right to cast a ballot in every US state. But barriers have limited Indigenous voters ever since and as recently as the 2018 midterm elections, a proposed voter ID law in North Dakota deemed many tribal ID cards invalid.
But Native Americans have the political force to shape election outcomes, particularly in Arizona. Currently, the Navajo Election Office reports 133,872 Navajos are registered to vote and are credited with helping to secure Joe Biden’s victory in a state that hadn’t helped put a Democrat in the White House since 1996.
Enter Allie Redhorse Young. After founding the nonprofit Protect the Sacred, originally with the goal of providing aid to Native communities during the pandemic, the Diné activist and organizer hosted the first Ride to the Polls event ahead of the 2020 election. It blended interests like skateboarding, cowboy culture, and heavy metal music with modern activism to register voters and bridge the gaps to access voting and get Indigenous youth to the polls.
Teen Vogue spoke with Young to learn more about this year’s Ride to the Polls events and what young Indigenous voters are most focused on in this election.
This conversation has been condensed and lightly edited for clarity.
Teen Vogue: How do events like Ride to the Polls help combat the many barriers faced by Indigenous citizens who live on rural reservations??
Allie Redhorse Young: The purpose of Ride to the Polls is really about what the Navajo language means—kinship—and it's really about relying on each other as a community because that's how it's always been.… When we were in COVID and there was no aid coming to our reservations, we came together to combat that virus, to keep our families safe, and protect our elders.
And in the same way with voting, there have long since been these barriers that have existed, even though we were [technically] granted the right to vote [in 1924]. To this day, we're facing barriers. And in order to overcome them, we have to come together as a community.
And that's what these events are about. It's about talking to each other in ways that are relatable and with messaging that resonates. You know, we trust each other and we trust our own leaders that come from our communities and we listen to them.
TV: On October 12, you will host Walk to the Polls, a trek with actor and ally Mark Ruffalo to the polls in Fort Defiance, Arizona, where Indigenous voters will dress in regalia. Can you share more about the event?
ARY: The full title of the event is Walk to the Polls: Honoring 100 Years of Citizenship and Beyond, and many people don't know that this year, 2024, marks 100 years since the signing of the treaty, the Indian Citizenship Act. That's when we, Native Americans, were granted citizenship in our ancestral homelands. It just points to all of the dark history of this country. We've been here since time immemorial, but we've only been citizens for 100 years, and we've only had the right to vote for maybe 60 years.
It's about commemorating that history, recognizing it, and making sure that the world knows. Walk to the Polls is inspired by the Navajo Long Walk, which is one of those dark moments in history when the Navajo people were forced to leave their homelands. And they were forced on this walk from Fort Defiance, where we are hosting Walk to the Polls, and down to Bosque Redondo, New Mexico.
The purpose of that was really to starve us out. Thousands of our women and children and people died along that walk. And it didn't end until the Treaty of 1868 was signed by our Navajo leaders.… Walk to the Polls is about remembering that time, but also about celebrating how far we've come.
We're inviting people to come walk and wear their traditional clothes if they want to because Indigenous Peoples Day is a couple of days after the walk. And we're inviting folks to bring their skateboards, their scooters, their bikes, their horses and ride alongside us to really celebrate our diversity and walk in solidarity with our allies.
Participating in this system is one of those sacrifices that we have to make. It was not a system that was designed for us. It really never worked for us.
TV: What are you hoping to inspire, particularly in young folks?
ARY: We have a lot of our young people who are asking questions, who are pushing back and saying, Why should we continue participating in this system if it doesn't work for us and wasn't designed for us? Walk to the Polls and Ride to the Polls are about bringing these events that meet them where they're at — the skateboarding, the bull riding, horseback riding, to tap into the passions and the interests of all of our youth to make sure that they feel included, they feel seen, and they feel heard. We deliver this message that we agree with you, that those are all very valid points, but also this is the system that we live in.
Our ancestors had to make greater sacrifices for us to still be alive today, including signing those treaties when they probably didn't want to. Our duty today is to make our ancestors proud and to make sure that we're continuing this legacy of survival and resiliency for the next seven generations. We must participate in the system because it is one way that we can rebuild our power as a community and ensure a better, brighter community for our young generations and those who have yet to come.
TV: Strong Native American turnout is credited as one of the factors that led to President Biden's 2020 win in Arizona. Can you speak to what you hope to achieve in 2024?
ARY: In 2024, I hope to achieve a greater turnout. I really feel that this year we are going to make history again and we're going to turn out in record numbers, beating the stats from 2020 and 2022. I think we're going to see a lot of young people participating this year. I feel this sort of buzz across Indian Country with its excitement to be participating in the system, to be part of the voting process. I see it because I'm on the ground and I see how many of those grassroots organizations are doing the work.
Our young people are coming out and they're using their creativity and they're really diving in and ensuring that our community is aware and they're prepared. And so that's what I've been seeing all over the Navajo Nation and even beyond. My hope is that we see the largest Native American voter turnout we've ever seen.
TV: What is your message for young Indigenous voters or anyone voting for the first time?
ARY: My message always to them is that whether they know it or not, they are making their ancestors proud. This vote really means something for our community, for the Native American community, a community that has been invisible for far too long and is finally being invited to the table around these decisions.
My message to them is that they're part of a movement to lay the groundwork for this change to happen, and the more that we continue to participate and show up for our communities, to represent our communities, years down the road, the next presidential election and beyond, we're going to see the fruits of that labor.
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