Multiple severe storms, including an October 22 deluge that overwhelmed earth dams and cut essential utilities, left roads across the reservation impassable. On election day, heavy equipment operators carved temporary routes through mud-covered terrain to ensure cut-off residents could reach sites like the Dennehotso Chapterhouse. Volunteers and Chapter employees coordinated shuttles and shared traditional food as high numbers of voters arrived. Among those casting ballots was a 92-year-old resident who participated despite losing her home and identification papers to the floodwaters.
Key points
Residents utilized tractors, mud-caked trucks, and coordinated volunteer shuttles to bypa…: Residents utilized tractors, mud-caked trucks, and coordinated volunteer shuttles to bypass washed-out transit routes and cast ballots.
High voter turnout persisted at polling locations despite thousands of reservation reside…: High voter turnout persisted at polling locations despite thousands of reservation residents facing displacement from the floods.
Community members gathered outside voting sites like the Dennehotso Chapterhouse to share…: Community members gathered outside voting sites like the Dennehotso Chapterhouse to share mutton stew and support one another.
Sources checked by our analysis pipeline: 1
People on the Navajo Reservation had to make extra effort to vote this year.
It's a region of the southwest that's been hit this fall by repeated flooding. Roads washed out, driving thousands of people from their homes.
But voters turned out, in the parts of Arizona, Utah and New Mexico that the reservation stretches across. Yesterday at the Dennehotso Chapterhouse, voters rolled up in trucks with mud-caked tires.
The town is framed by the picturesque sandstone cursive of Comb Ridge, the stone spires of Monument Valley peeking over the ridgeline.
In the parking lot, people gathered to eat fry bread and mutton stew, something common at Navajo polling sites.
"I love to see our people come out and talk amongst each other," said 27-year-old Urbina Yazzie, adding that this year's election is unusual.
"People are having to drive on tractors to get from one road to another, just to come and vote," she said.
Dennehotso has been knocked around by floods this fall, three in the last month. But the big one that residents will talk about for decades…
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