AP PHOTOS: Emptiness sculpts everything from daily life to politics on Arizona's Navajo Nation

AP PHOTOS: Emptiness sculpts everything from daily life to politics on Arizona’s Navajo Nation

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A battered U.S. flag flutters in the wind on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Ariz., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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A Hopi man warms himself in the sun while sitting against an adobe building, in Sichomivi, Ariz., Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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A view from the kitchen window of goat herder Richard Begay, on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Ariz., Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Richard Begay’s gun lies on his kitchen counter, on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Ariz., Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Richard Begay shows a portrait of his mother, at his home on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Ariz., Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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A roadside promotes a candidate competing in a tribal election, on the Navajo Nation in Ganado, Ariz., Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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A man walks on the top of the red sandstone arch of Window Rock, Ariz., outside the Navajo Nation government headquarters, in Window Rock, Ariz., Thursday, Oct. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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A house is reflected in a car’s rearview mirror, on the Navajo Nation, on the outskirts of Window Rock, Ariz., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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A goat skin hangs on the T-pole of a clothesline, outside the home of goat herder Richard Begay, on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Ariz., Friday, Oct. 18, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Navajo and Hopi arts and crafts are promoted on the facade of a storefront, in Winslow, Ariz., Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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A roadside sign thanking Native Americans who served in the U.S. military, stands in a field in Indian Wells, Ariz., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Native wood sculptures adorn the yard of Felix Ashley on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Ariz., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Tree trunks form an old Navajo Indigenous home, on the Navajo Nation, on the outskirts of Dilkon, Ariz., Thursday, Oct. 17, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Guns are displayed in Felix Ashley’s yard, on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Ariz., Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Dust rises across the road on a windy afternoon, on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Ariz., Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Goat herder Richard Begay holds up his hand showing his amputated fingers, on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Ariz., Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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A house located next to a rocky mountain on the Navajo Nation, in Steamboat, Ariz., Friday, Oct. 11, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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The names of Ashley family members who served in the U.S. military, are written on a sign, displayed outside the family home, on the Navajo Nation in Dilkon, Ariz, Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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A storm forms over abandoned houses on the Navajo Nation, on the outskirts of Tuba City, Ariz., Friday, Oct. 18, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

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Mail boxes line the side of the road on a rural stretch along Hwy 77, on Arizona’s Navajo Nation, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2024.(AP Photo/Rodrigo Abd)

By RODRIGO ABD and MEGAN JANETSKY

NAVAJO NATION (AP) — Emptiness paints the vast ranges and rugged mountains of 22 Native reservations speckling Arizona, sculpting daily life, culture and even politics in nearly a quarter of the state.

Reservations brim with culture as many carry on their ancestral traditions. Yet few opportunities, high rates of poverty, little investment by both tribal and federal governments, and limited access to water, electricity and education have left many reservations like the northern Navajo Nation frozen in time.

It’s fueled an emigration from Native lands, as young people study in boarding schools off the reservations and leave in soaring numbers to seek jobs in bigger cities. Among them is 20-year-old Tatum Grey who plans to leave her home in Chinle, Arizona in search of work.

“There’s no programs for the youth to get a job anywhere. You talk to restaurants, business and they all turn you down quick, so you have to look out in cities, and that destroys the Navajo Nation’s economy,” she said. “All people want is a nice life.”

It’s a phenomenon that touches the lives of nearly every Navajo. Every family has a member who has left. Young people dream of opportunities. And the elderly are often left alone with few to care for them.

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Those long distances and rugged terrains are the same ones that have sculpted political campaigns in the 2024 election. As both Democratic and Republican parties try to scoop up any and every vote in the far reaches of Arizona, a swing state, organizers have had to be creative in their campaigning on Native lands.

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Posters for both candidates Democrat Kamala Harris and Republican Donald Trump dot rubble roads, often written in Navajo or drawn by hand. In homes that lack basic cellphone signals and even electricity, campaigns have pumped money into radio ads, seeking to reach voters on the furthest fringes of society.

Instead of hosting big rallies, voting activists travel to the far reaches of the reservation, paying the entrance fees to local events like goat roping in exchange for young Navajos registering to vote. Others have ridden across the reservation on horseback to excite voters disillusioned by politics, another push to overcome the distances and historic barriers that have long permeated the reservation.