Sometime next year, a federal judge will decide whether Native Americans are still being shut out of political power in San Juan County, where now more than 52 percent of residents are Navajo or Ute tribal members. At issue will be the Navajo Nation’s claim that voting districts in the county have been gerrymandered to assure a permanent white majority in local elections.
On Thursday’s AU, Jon Kovash, UPR’s Southeast Utah correspondent, will talk with Steve Boos, attorney for the Navajo Nation, and with three residents of San Juan County. Ken Sleight, former crony of author Ed Abbey, Mark Maryboy, the first Native American to hold elected public office in Utah, and Phil Lyman, a current county commissioner, recently famous for leading an ATV protest into Recapture Canyon.
