Native Americans face voting hurdles as election looms

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April Ignacio removes a sign that had promoted her candidacy in a recent election, on the Tohono O'odham Nation reservation in Arizona. October 22, 2024. REUTERS/Tom Hals

When Jennifer Juan went to cast her ballot in Arizona's state primary in July, she spent an hour rifling through documents to convince poll workers she should be allowed to vote. It's a common problem for many Native American voters like Juan, writes our colleague Tom Hals.

Casting a ballot can be a challenge for Native Americans, especially the 13% who live on reservations where some residents may be over an hour away from the nearest polling place. Many lack regular postal services, face difficulties obtaining documents and have high rates of disability, according to a Biden administration report.

Native Americans could be an important demographic in the Nov. 5 presidential election. The outcome is expected to be decided by slim margins in battleground states like Arizona, which is home to around 400,000 Native Americans, according to 2023 census data. Read more.

More election legal news:

US Supreme Court girds for rush of election-related litigation

Trump's fraud claims revive fears he may again seek to overturn election results

Battles over abortion access fuel US state supreme court races

Law schools …

The University of Washington School of Law got a $45 million gift, seemingly the largest single law school donation of 2024 … Kamala Harris' alma mater, UC Law San Francisco, reported a 64% spike in applicant numbers during the final election weeks.

Pharma litigation…

AstraZeneca, Bristol Myers and J&J urged the 3rd Circuit to revive their lawsuits challenging the U.S. drug price negotiation program … At the 3rd Circuit, drug wholesalers and others sought to revive their Lipitor antitrust lawsuits against Ranbaxy and Pfizer ... Drugmakers Apotex and Heritage Pharmaceuticals agreed to pay $49 million to settle states' price-fixing claims … Abortion pill maker GenBioPro urged the 4th Circuit to rule that West Virginia's abortion ban cannot block use of mifepristone.

Bankruptcy …

Purdue Pharma neared a new bankruptcy deal with its Sackler family owners … Tupperware got court approval for a lender sale of its assets … UK's PureGym won a bankruptcy auction to acquire U.S. gym operator Blink Fitness's assets for $121 million … Medical implant manufacturer Exactech filed for bankruptcy in Delaware.

Elon Musk's legal woes…

A Delaware judge said she aims to rule on Elon Musk's $56 billion Tesla pay by the year end … A state judge in Pennsylvania declined to immediately block Musk's $1 million voter giveaway …  A divided 5th Circuit ruled that the NLRB wrongly ordered the Tesla CEO to delete a 2018 anti-union tweet.

Liberal San Francisco is hardly a hotbed of anti-COVID vaxxers, but jurors there last week nonetheless awarded six public transit workers who were fired for refusing to comply with their employer's COVID-19 vaccine mandate on religious grounds more than $1 million each.  As similar cases make their way through courts around the country, plaintiffs lawyers tell columnist Jenna Greene they see the verdict as a sign of more big payouts to come. Are they right?

Check out other recent pieces from our columnists: Alison Frankel and Jenna Greene

Staff at U.S. voting machine firms prep for doxxing, misinformation and "swatting" … Ten states press U.S. to take tougher stance in UN plastic treaty … Ceasefire hopes fade as Israel bombards Gaza, Lebanon … Putin draws a nuclear red line for the West … Lock of Washington's hair and other presidential memorabilia up for auction … And, pictures of the month from October.

Additional writing by Namrata Arora and Sandeep Shekhar Ghoshal.

caitlin.tremblay@thomsonreuters.com

@ctrembz

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