Huge numbers of Native Americans who have not voted in recent elections are turning out -- even creating a special bus line -- to win Arizona for Biden and end the racist, incompetent and dangerous administration of Donald Trump.
In Kayenta, near Monument Valley and the Utah state line, fully one-third of the early ballots are coming from Navajos who have not voted in many years.
Several hundred miles farther south, in the San Carlos Apache Reservation, a stunning 43% of the early voters have not cast ballots in recent elections.
The 25 paid field organizers of Northeast Arizona Native Democrats have been working to produce this turnout for many months.
Of the first 11,800 early ballots returned in Apache County (Arizona’s far northeast which ironically includes the heart of the Navajo Nation), 7,732 have come from Democrats.
Officials in Gila County refused to put a ballot drop box in the community of Canyon Day – forcing residents to make a three-hour round-trip drive through the winding and hazardous Salt River Canyon to drop off their ballots. The White Mountain Apache Tribe responded by creating a new bus line with twice-daily service between Canyon Day and Globe, the county seat with the nearest drop box for Gila County ballots.
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Overall in Arizona, things are looking, as we are taught to say, “cautiously optimistic.”
Fifty-three percent of Democrats statewide have already voted, topping Republicans who are down at 43%. The turnout reported so far is Democrats 742,876, Republicans 653,331 and Independents 89,545. This doesn’t account for the fact that many county election officials, particularly in Democratic northeast Arizona, are behind in opening their mail.
With many of Natives having already voted, a Republican delegation showed up on Tuesday in the Navajo Nation capital of Window Rock to explain what the Trump administration has done for Natives. The first snowfall on Tuesday marked the eternal change of the seasons with geese flying south and Republicans flying in before election day to pretend they care.
The GOP ambassadors were met with disbelief, protesters and a tribute to the 574 Navajos who lost their life due to Trump’s mishandling and indifference to the Covid crisis.
Nationally, Pennsylvania is considered the tipping point state. Should Trump unexpectedly win any of the states forecast for an Electoral College victory, Arizona is next in line and will have the honor of casting its 11 Electoral Votes to push him into Losers’ Hell.
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