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Gabriella Cázares-Kelly knows a thing or two about voter suppression in Arizona. It’s why she posted billboards and did what no other Indigenous person anywhere had done before: run for a county-wide office and win. But not just any office. She targeted the Pima County Recorder race, in large part, because of the closure of an early voting precinct on the Tohono O'odham Nation where she is a citizen. Situated in Pima County, it had been shuttered for months, frustrating Native voters. On Election Day, those voters turned out in record numbers, leading Indigenous electorates statewide. They headed to the polls for one of their own, Gabriella. But also in the process, they threw their overwhelming support behind Joe Biden—88 percent. These are the votes that ultimately helped flip Arizona, one of America’s most conservative states, from red to purple. The GOP is rip-pissed. According to the Brennan Center’s State Voting Bills Tracker, Arizona ties with only Georgia in the most bills introduced by state lawmakers to restrict voting access - a total of 22. As of late February, 253 bills in 43 states are making their way through statehouses, all geared to disenfranchise vulnerable voters. One attempt to erode the Voting Right Act in Arizona was heard by the Supreme Court this month. Analysts are calling it the most significant attempt to cutback voting rights since the Jim Crow era. In response, Senate Democrats are advancing the For the People Act aimed to stop voter suppression in its tracks.
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