Journal of Historical Political Economy > Vol 2 > Issue 4

Inequalities in Vote by Mail for Native Americans in the US West: The Historical Political Economy of Postal Service in Northeastern Arizona

Melissa Rogers, School of Social Science, Policy & Evaluation, Claremont Graduate University, USA, melissa.rogers@cgu.edu , Jean Schroedel, School of Social Science, Policy & Evaluation, Claremont Graduate University, USA, jean.schroedel@cgu.edu , Joseph Dietrich, School of Social Science, Policy & Evaluation, Claremont Graduate University, USA
 
Suggested Citation
Melissa Rogers, Jean Schroedel and Joseph Dietrich (2023), "Inequalities in Vote by Mail for Native Americans in the US West: The Historical Political Economy of Postal Service in Northeastern Arizona", Journal of Historical Political Economy: Vol. 2: No. 4, pp 553-581. http://dx.doi.org/10.1561/115.00000040

Publication Date: 06 Feb 2023
© 2023 M. Rogers, J. Schroedel, and J. Dietrich
 
Subjects
 
Keywords
Electoral institutionsAmerican political developmentelectionspolitical historyvoting
 

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In this article:
Introduction 
Post Offices and State Building in the West 
Post Offices on Trading Posts 
Post Offices Versus Postal Providers 
The Political Economy of Mail Service, Past and Present 
Hours of Access 
A Comparison of Voting Access 
Impact of Mail Service on Voting by Mail 
Concluding Thoughts 
Appendix 
References 

Abstract

Vote by mail has been disproportionately adopted by states in the US West. While voting by mail is relatively easy for most individuals, who have what the United States Postal Service (USPS) characterizes as standard mail service (residential mail delivery), it is much more difficult for those having nonstandard mail service, which requires traveling to post offices to access mail. Nonstandard mail service is the norm for Native Americans living on reservations in the US West, and for many rural non-Native neighbors. In this paper, we show how decisions taken by the USPS in the latter part of the nineteenth century and early twentieth century have resulted in deeply entrenched structural inequities in access to mail services on reservations in Arizona when compared to the services available in nonreservation communities. We explore the political economy of these decisions, most notably the military conquest of the West in the late nineteenth century and support for white settlers. These inequities seriously impinge on the ability of people living on the reservation to vote by mail in the current times. We use detailed data on precinct locations, post office locations, drop box locations, and Election Day voting sites to show there are systemic inequities that result in voters on the reservations (primarily the Navajo Nation) having less opportunity to vote than is available to other Arizona voters, both urban and rural. We also document how these differences in voting access adversely affect voting by mail among Native voters, particularly those living in the precincts with the least access.

DOI:10.1561/115.00000040

Online Appendix | 115.00000040_app.pdf

This is the article's accompanying appendix.

DOI: 10.1561/115.00000040_app

Companion

Journal of Historical Political Economy, Volume 2, Issue 4 Special Issue: The Development of the American West: Articles Overview
See the other articles that are part of this special issue.