Native communities have long faced structural barriers to voting, from limited polling locations to vast travel distances. In many areas, residents must drive 40 to 75 miles to reach the nearest polling place, making mail-in ballots an essential tool for overcoming distance and transportation challenges. Taking away this option would not only erase one of the most effective voting methods Native people have secured but also echo a long history of voter suppression in Indian Country.
President Trump has stated that he would start a movement to change how elections are conducted by removing mail-in ballots and voting machines. If forced and implemented, these actions would face massive legal challenges and create confusing election rules. Election administrators would be overwhelmed as states would have to pivot quickly, hire and train new staff, and scale up voting locations—already a challenge under budget constraints. The most vulnerable voters—people with disabilities, elders, military service members, rural residents, and overseas voters—would face the greatest barriers. Long lines, fewer polling places, and accessibility challenges would disproportionately hurt these groups.
In Montana, it is unclear whether a larger federal role in elections could override state-level legal victories that have protected Native access to the ballot in recent years. Such a shift would not only destabilize election administration but also threaten the progress of Tribes and Native advocacy organizations, like Western Native Voice, which have built strategies around expanding vote-by-mail access, voter education, and ballot collection assistance. All of these efforts would be disrupted, undermining years of progress toward equitable participation in the democratic process.