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This amendment allowed all men to vote regardless of race, color, and creed.  The amendment came shortly after the thirteenth and fourteenth amendments that freed slaves and gave citizenship to African Americans.  The fifteenth amendment was therefore a way of not only legalizing, but encouraging the African American vote.  The amendment did not change America overnight, for there were still efforts by individual states (that ultimately run elections) to impose racist laws that drastically suppressed the minority group’s vote (Sheffer, Britannica).  Although Native Americans are our focus, African Americans in this instance are a good example to exploit the initial ineffectiveness of an amendment.  Native Americans at this time, being native to the land and being no different to Americans other than race, by law were allowed to vote under this new amendment, but it would be decades before that would be considered true.  The amendment does, however, lay the proper groundwork for future laws that would allow the mentioned minority groups to vote.

Phil Pollice

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A political cartoon of Senator Dawes “chomping” away Native American land with his new bill.  The image shows a clear disdain from the Native Americans toward Dawes and America’s attempt to assimilate them into their culture.

The Dawes Act was passed not for Native American voting rights but to first try to assimilate them into American culture.  Many politicians believed if they were to receive enfranchisement in the US, they should first be apart of the US officially.  The law dissolved the legality of Native American’s tribes being considered separate of the US and distributed land to the tribes based on how many adults and children were apart of them.  Any land that the natives had but was not distributed to them through the law was given to Americans.  Although the law did introduce schools that taught reading and writing, it was ultimately a failure that lead to the destruction of 2/3 of the tribal lands in the US.  The government recognized their failure and decided to take a less aggressive approach to Native American assimilation.  It was now up to the Natives themselves to decide whether they should stay in their tribe or assimilate into the US (Library of Congress).  This law is a constant reminder for the government to understand its bounds with Native Americans.  Regardless of whether Natives want to stay with their tribes or associate with American culture, all Native Americans should be allowed to vote.

Phil Pollice

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The Snyder Act was passed and officially gave Native Americans US citizenship which in turn gave them the right to vote (despite the 15th amendment being passed in 1870).  Despite the bill passing, it took the US, as a whole, 40 years for all 50 states to grant Native Americans the right to vote (Library of Congress).  The sad reality of the disregard for this bill is that some states do in fact abuse their power in elections and systemically fix them to their liking.  The United States, therefore, is in need of a judicial process where courts can ensure the safety and fairness of an election in every state.

Phil Pollice

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1946: Denying Native American Veterans Suffrage 

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1946: Denying Native American Veterans Suffrage 

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Letters were sent to the Arizona Attorney General from thousands of Native American veterans who expressed their passion for their country as people who fought for it and wanted the right to vote.  The Attorney General, under the state’s current laws, could not grant them the right (Daniel, National Archive).  Although it is not a monumentally positive change in history for Native Americans, the inaction of Arizona for its veterans brought attention to the issue of voting rights for the minority group.

Phil Pollice

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1948: AZ Supreme Court Harrison vs Laveen

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1948: AZ Supreme Court Harrison vs Laveen

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The Arizona Supreme Court revised its statement saying that Native Americans were “persons under guardianship” to the United States which was found in Article 7, Section 2 of the state’s constitution.  Prior to its adjustment, the court was legitimizing their denial of the Native American vote by considering them as wards to the United States, which was deemed an unjustifiable clause.  The ruling allowed all Native Americans to now vote in the state’s elections (67 Ariz. 337 (Ariz. 1948)).  The Arizona Supreme Court, a place where many Native Americans reside, made good use of their judicial power and enforced laws that were previously enacted nationally but suppressed through state loop holes.  Though they were not the first state to take action, it set a strong president for future states like Utah, which was the last state to comply with Native American voting rights.

Phil Pollice

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The plaintiff, Preston Allen, was a Native American from the state of Utah suing the state for its unconstitutional laws preventing the unassimilated Native Americans from voting.  The court ruled against the case because the Natives that are not assimilated and belong to tribes were considered to be independent of state government and have sovereignty.  They also argued that the United States has a considerable amount of control over the independent tribes and considered the tribal Native Americans to be less interested in local government than an average citizen.  The case was then sent to the Unites States Supreme Court, but before it could taken on by the justices, the state legislatures of Utah removed the unconstitutional language from its state code (Robinson, Utah Women’s History).  This marked the day that all 50 states officially allowed the right to vote for Native Americans across the country.

Marcus Coppa

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Although the Voting Rights Act of this year were aimed to help African Americans, it subsequently helped Native Americans and the acts of prejudice against them.  Native Americans, like African Americans, were discriminated against with insufficient poll taxes, literacy tests, voter fraud, and voter intimidation (Library of Congress).  The act was a strong message sent to states holding onto racist state laws that statewide discrimination of not just African Americans, but Native Americans would not be tolerated.

Marcus Coppa

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2019: The Native American Voting Rights Act

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2019: The Native American Voting Rights Act

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Image of the Native American Voting Rights Act being signed into law.  Although Native Americans are the most ancient minority group and have been in contact with Americans for the longest period of time, they were one of the last minority groups (that experienced tremendous injustice) to receive a voting rights act.

The Act proposed by Udall Luján ensured multiple components for a free and fair election among Native Americans.  It increased voter registration and polling places in highly populous Native American areas, appointed a first ever Native American Voting Rights Task Force dedicated to informing and educating its constituents, and enforced states to come to terms with the DOJ to prevent prohibitory and racist laws in elections (Indian Senate).  Although there are a lot of new and never seen before election aid implemented in this bill, the bill itself is the first ever Voting Rights Act for Native Americans.  The bill is a recent and effective addition to the Native American’s cause for more fair elections, but slight adjustments can be made to make it a more prominent bill and help even more Native Americans across the country.

Marcus Coppa & Phil Pollice

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Daniel. "The War after the War: The American Indian Fight for the Vote after
WWII." National Archives. Last modified November 12, 2019. Accessed
December 18, 2020. https://text-message.blogs.archives.gov/2019/11/12/
the-war-after-the-war-the-american-indian-fight-for-the-vote-after-wwii/.

Dawes Act of 1887. Illustration. May 18, 2018. PDF.

Epperly, Emma. Gov. Jay Inlsee signs into law the Native American Voting Rights
Act which allows the use of non-traditional addresses to be used for voter
registration for residents who live on Native American reservations.
Photograph. Peninsula Daily News. March 22, 2019. Accessed December 18,
2020. https://www.peninsuladailynews.com/news/
inslee-signs-native-american-voting-rights-act-into-law/.

Harrison v. Laveen, 67 Ariz. 337, 196 P.2d 456 (Ariz. 1948)

Parrots-Sheffer, Chelsey. "Fifteenth Amendment." Britannica. Last modified
August 14, 2019. Accessed December 18, 2020. https://www.britannica.com/
editor/Chelsey-Parrott-Sheffer/6450.

Robinson, Jennifer. "Utah and Native American Voting Rights." Utah Women's
History. Last modified March 28, 2019. Accessed December 18, 2020.
https://www.utahwomenshistory.org/2019/03/
utah-and-native-american-voting-rights/.

"Udall, Luján Introduce Bicameral Native American Voting Rights Act." Indian
Senate. Last modified March 12, 2019. Accessed December 18, 2020.
https://www.indian.senate.gov/news/press-release/
udall-luj-n-introduce-bicameral-native-american-voting-rights-act.