In Rural Arizona, A Bid -- And A Block -- To Get Indigenous Voters To The Polls

FORT DEFIANCE, Ariz. — At an elementary school way out in rural northeastern Arizona, on a sunny Saturday afternoon, the Incredible Hulk was signing autographs.

Hulk was a huge draw in this remote community in Navajo Nation. Hundreds of people turned out for a chance to meet him — well, the actor who plays him in the latest Marvel movies, Mark Ruffalo — at the Tséhootsooí Primary Learning Center. People drove as far as 19 hours, across state lines and with cars full of kids. Some adults even admitted that while they came for the official gathering, an Indigenous voter mobilization event, they wouldn’t turn down a chance to meet a famous actor.

“I’m an active voter. I don’t think that’s enough these days. So, I try to be more than just that,” said Hondo Louis, 50, who was peering around a tree for a Ruffalo sighting as he spoke. “But also, having a celebrity who’s going to lend support to something I believe in.”

Everyone came for an activity, too: a 3-mile walk to a local polling station. Early voting in the state had begun a few days earlier, and residents of all ages — teens on skateboards, elders in wheelchairs — brought their ballots to cast at Fort Defiance Road Yard, a facility that would be open specially for the event.




https://www.huffpost.com/entry/arizona-indigenous-voters-navajo-nation_n_67168633e4b0b4263c8b29a4