Navajo County responds to Navajo voting complaint

By Terence Corrigan The Independent
Dec 21, 2018
Dec 21, 2018 Updated Dec 26, 2018
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Navajo relief- council headquarters in Window Rock — Buy Now

Pictured is the Navajo Nation council chambers in Window Rock. Rep. O’Halleran, whose district includes the White Mountains and a large portion of the Navajo Reservation, said, “though I am relieved to see at least a portion of these much-needed funds reach those that need them most, tribes need the rest of the aid they were promised fast.”
File photo

(Editor’s note: This is the second installment of a two-part series on the Navajo Nation’s federal court challenge to the November 6 general election. This installment reviews the response by Navajo County.)

Fourteen days after the last votes were cast, the Navajo Nation mounted a wide-ranging federal court challenge to the November 6 election. The Tribe asked that a federal judge halt the formal approval of the vote — called the certification of the election — until a ruling could be secured on the Tribe’s allegations that Apache, Navajo and Coconino counties had violated the rights of Navajo voters.

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Reach the county editor at tcorrigan@wmicentral.com.

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Apache County: Finding a cure presents challenges

Following the November 6 election, the Navajo Nation alleged that Navajo voters were not given sufficient time to cure ballots that were submitted without signatures or ballots that the voter’s signature did not appear to match the one that the county has on file.

The Navajo Nation filed its complaint in federal court on November 20. The complaint was aimed at Apache, Navajo and Cocinino counties and alleged that the county recorders’ procedures violated the 14th Amendment of the Constitution, denying equal protection for Navajo voters.

Navajo County Deputy County Attorney Jason Moore argued that his county’s procedures provided the same “opportunity to ‘cure’ ballots [that] was offered to voters on and off the Navajo Nation” thus “there was no equal protection violation.”

All voters may be treated the same, as Moore wrote, but one voting activist group’s attempt to rectify faulty ballots in Apache County ran into stumbling blocks, in part because Apache County offices are only open four days a week.

“To illustrate the barriers that Navajo Nation members faced in trying to cure their ballots and the utter confusion that these members faced, an encounter with the Apache County Recorder’s Office shortly after the election is worth describing,” according to the Tribe’s attorneys in November 20 court filing.

The Apache County incident was related in written statement by Donna Semans, who works with Four Directions Inc, a nonprofit group based in North Dakota that is dedicated to “adavancing equality at the ballot box across Indian Country.”

Semans is the Director of Grassroots Organizing for the group and served as the Get-Out-The-Vote Coordinator on the Navajo Nation during the November 2018 general election.

Semans’ made audio recordings of phone conversations to help document her experience in trying to cure the ballots of 13 Navajo voters.

Apache County had established a deadline of Friday, November 9 at 5 p.m. to cure ballots. That was extended by a court order to Wednesday, Nov.14 by a court order affecting all counties statewide. But Apache County offices are closed on Fridays, and Monday, November 12, was closed for Veteran's Day.

Phone tag

The first step voters were advised to take was to call the county elections department for information. In its court filing, the Tribe included a transcript of a recorded call that Semans made to the elections department:

“This is Angela Romero in the elections department, if this is regarding an early absentee ballot or voter registration, please call the county recorder’s office at 928-337-7515 otherwise please leave a message and I will return your call, thank-you”

But problems arose for voters who attempted to call, Semans said.

“Navajo Nation members called the 7515 number and no one ever picked up the phone, the phone would just ‘ring and ring,’” according to the Tribe’s court filing.

On that same day, November 9, the deadline day to cure ballots, Semans drove to St. Johns to find out how to cure ballots. She arrived at the county offices at around 2 p.m. “I tried to enter the building but the building was locked,” she wrote in her statement.

“I tried to contact someone in the Recorder’s Office via phone and it took approximately 45 minutes for someone to answer my call,” she wrote.

When her call was answered, at around 2:50 p.m., Semans asked to speak to Angela Romero, the county elections director.

What follows is the transcript of the recorded conversation.

County Recorder’s Office, how can I help you?

Um, I’m trying to find out how I can speak to Angela.

She left for the day.

She left for the entire day?

Yes. She le — I saw her leave the parking lot about 30 minutes ago.

Okay. ‘Cause I’m sitting out in front, well I was sitting out in front, and I tried to get in and your building is closed?

Yeah we are not open ... on Fridays. We are only open Monday through Thursday.

****?

What?

Even after an election?

Yes.

So what do I need to do about the ballot that needs to be cured? I work with the Navajo Nation trying get the, um, their ballots fixed.

Give me a second and let me see what the voter registration supervisor has to say, okay?

Thank you.

You’re welcome.

(Another person, identified as Geneva, from the county comes on line)

This is Geneva, how can I help you?

Um, I’m calling to see how I can set up a, uh, to see someone in person. I was at the building, your, um, recorder office building and the doors are all locked up.

Yes, our doors are locked because we’re real — we’re not open today.

**** but I don’t understand.

I’m sorry?

I don’t understand why it’s not open after an election.

Um, the recorder’s office, we are here at the recorder’s office, um, is there something I can help you with? I’m the voter registration supervisor.

I am working with the Navajo Nation trying to get their ballots cured.

Okay. Trying to get them cured? Uh, how —

This

— that we’ve called and contacted and that have the signatures that are having discrepancies.

Uh huh.

They need to call us and let us know that they signed their signature.

Okay. Well I’ve given — I’ve contacted all the people that, uh, for Apache County that you have listed. I believe there are 13 that I needed to find, um

What number were you having them call?

This one.

Uh —

At first they’re – I had them calling the 7515, and then I had them calling 7516, and then I tried 7532, I believe it was.

Okay, um, we’ve been answering our phones and I’ve cured several several signatures this morning.

Okay, Um, I would just, well I’ve tried, I’ve been since I was sitting out front of the annex building or whatever it is –

Okay.

– the recorder’s office, I’ve tried calling and I’ve been out here for about 45 minutes and this is the first time someone answered.

Okay, we’ve been answering our phone calls, ma’am, um.

Okay, so you’re calling me a liar, ‘cause I’ve been sitting here calling you.

No, I’m not calling you a liar. I’m just telling you, we’ve been answering the phones than have been ringing on the 7561 and 7632.

7516 **** and what we were informed to tell the people in, on the Navajo Nation that they needed to call 7515.

And I don’t know who told you that. That did not come from our office.

Okay, sounds good. I, uh, so I can’t meet with anybody in person?

Um, if you wanna give me — I’m on the court call right now. Um, if you wanna give me 20 minutes, I can let you talk to my chief deputy recorder

Awesome.

–as soon as we got off of, off the call but it’ll be about 20 minutes.

Okay, in person?

Yeah. In person.

Sounds good. Thank you.

All right. Thanks. Bye.

But that call never came, according to Seman. “I waited to meet the chief deputy recorder,” she wrote in a statement for the court filing, “but no one came out to meet with me nor contacted me in any way.”

Because of the observance of Veterans Day (Monday, November 11) and the county’s regular Friday closure, the county offices were not open to allow voters to cure their ballots from November 9 through November 12.

“Apache County officials did not meet with me until November 13, 2018,” Seman wrote. “I then secured the list of voters needing assitance to cure their ballots. I then tried to assist as many voters as I could. However, the County’s closure on Friday and failure to answer the phone number given out by Angela Romero delayed our efforts to assist Navajo voters in Apache County to cure their ballots.”