The Landmark Decision of Harrison v. Laveen: Arizona Indians and the Right to Vote

On a clear Saturday afternoon in 1947, two Yavapai members of Arizona’s Fort McDowell Reservation walked into the Maricopa County registrar’s office fully intent on registering to vote as Democrats for the upcoming election. World War II veteran Frank Harrison and tribal chairman Harry Austin, like so many other Americans, looked to the ballot box not only as a chance to participate in the political process but also as an opportunity to influence meaningful change in their everyday lives and the lives of fellow Indians on the reservation. Yet, Harrison and Austin’s hopes were quickly dashed as the county recorder, Roger G. Laveen, rejected their application citing section 2, article 7, of the Arizona State Constitution, which stipulated American Indians were clearly “persons under guardianship” of the United States and therefore ineligible to vote.1 Unsatisfied, both men entered into a long legal battle in an effort to appeal such discriminatory legislation and rectify the disenfranchisement of American Indians in Arizona. The lawsuit eventually reached the Arizona Supreme Court where the plaintiffs won a substantial victory in favor of Indigenous civil rights. The case garnered national attention and support from myriad organizations. The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI), the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and the U.S. assistant attorney general all offered amicus curiae both in defense of Indians’ right to vote and in opposition to the County’s biased law. The significance of Harrison v. Laveen cannot be overemphasized as it reflects the prisms of race, status, and citizenship occurring during the late 1940s, and showcases the pivotal steps American Indians took in shaping their destiny through legal means. Harrison and Austin’s lawsuit emerged almost a quarter century after the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which granted all