Breaking language barriers for Navajo voters in Arizona elections

A group of Navajo voters are helping with a language barrier for voters. Many Navajo voters only speak Navajo but cannot read it. So the issue becomes how can they understand the ballot for this election.

Navajo leaders have devised a solution: a translation that voters who are not proficient in English could listen to at the polls.

Jen Fifield covered this story and talked about how they decided to do it and what it will mean for a group of voters who showed up for the 2020 election and were instrumental.

Arizona is one of the states required to provide ballots in indigenous languages.

According to Fifield, this through section 203 of the Federal Voting Act.

“If you have a large community who doesn’t speak English well you need to provide them a way to understand their ballots,” Fifield said.

This is a major issue for the Navajo nation, one that can have an impact on the 2024 election.

“We have about 7000 residents that don’t speak or write English. We’ll, they’re not completely literate in English, and so these are mostly older people who have lived on the reservation maybe their entire life, referred to as elders. They need a way to listen to their ballot,” Fifield said.

According to Fifield this what the law requires.

“Basically, you have to be able to vote in a way that anyone else is able to. You have to get information to fully understand your ballot and to understand what you’re voting on,” Fifield said.

This has a significant impact on the Navajo nation as the language is unique. It is a primarily oral language and not necessarily written. It is also very difficult to translate.

“That makes it extremely challenging, especially just because translating from English to Navajo is difficult to begin with but now you’re trying to translate these complicated election terms,” Fifield said.

Navajo leaders posed the solution of making an audio ballot that can be translated into Navajo. This will allows Navajo only speakers to vote without having to read a ballot they don’t understand.