GRANTS -- 2004 is a big election year and Cibola County is scrambling to get everything ready for the upcoming elections in June and November. This includes coming up with 55 new voting machines to be in compliance with the Help America Vote Act of 2002.

According to county manager David Ulibarri, Cibola County has until 2006 to be in complete compliance, giving county officials time to get together the funding for the purchase of said voting machines.

Of more immediate concern is the complete implementation of the Native American Election Information Program.

The Program has been in place since 1994. According to court documents from the United States District Court in New Mexico, Cibola County "instituted the Program for the purpose of making all phases of the election process as accessible to the Native American Population of Cibola County as they are to the remainder of the County's population."

The Program was deemed necessary after the United States initiated action against the County on September 27, 1993,alleging violations of the Voting Rights Act regarding Native Americans in Cibola County.

On April 21, 1994, the County and the United States entered into a Consent Agreement where Cibola County agreed to remedy the election problems and so created the Native American Election Information Program.

The Consent Agreement is set to expire March 15, 2004. Because of a lack of fulfilling all of the components of the Program, particularly a failure to provide all instructions, assistance and other information relating to voting orally in the Navaho and Keresan languages, the Consent Agreement will be extended until December 31, 2006, giving the United States Government the right to observe elections among the Native Americans to ensure that all aspects of the Voting Rights Act are being served.

Because the Consent Agreement was up for renewal, parties on both sides agreed to modify the Program to make it more efficient and easier for the County to put into place. Because the Navajo language is historically an unwritten language, the County is required to furnish oral instructions, assistance and other information relating to registration and voting in the Navajo language. Therefore, Cibola County will be required to employ three Native American Voting Rights Coordinators to coordinate the Program. Each will have to be bilingual. One should speak English and Navajo, and serve in Ramah, and the others speak English and Keres, serving in Acoma and Laguna. The Tribal Governments are to recommend four qualified applicants for the County Commissioners to choose from. The County will train the Coordinators.

According to the Program mandates, "the Coordinators shall oversee the County's Native American Elections Information Program generally and regularly attend each tribal council meeting and chapter officers meeting. Each Coordinator shall attend all other such public meetings at their respective communities as his or her schedule shall permit." At each of these meetings, the Coordinator will be required to announce the date of the next scheduled election, the offices open for election, any non-candidate provisions which will appear on the ballot, announce the details on voter registration and provide an opportunity to register to vote (offering language assistance in filling out voter registration applications), and to announce training for election translators. The Coordinators will provide translations of the ballots in the appropriate language, air election announcements in the appropriate language on the radio and hold regular office hours to provide election information to his or her assigned area.

The County will provide training, an expense budget, and all materials necessary to carrying out the duties of Coordinator. As the tribal governments are separate entities with their own powers and authority, the County will be acting in good faith with the tribal governments, and will not be held responsible by the United States Government if a tribal government refuses the County's efforts to establish equal voting practices. The County will assign at least one trained translator to the polling places for each voting machine. This translator will orally advise voters of the availability of language assistance.

The Commissioners are eager to put the Program in place. At the last County Commission meeting on March 8, Bennie Cohoe, the Commission Chairman, expressed his wish for picking appropriate coordinators and complying with the Consent Agreement. "We want to really work with the tribes, meeting their specific needs, and get into compliance with the current election standards." - Amy Sorbello