Just days prior to Thanksgiving, the federal government announced that the national voter registration form will be offered in select Native American languages for the first time.
The Election Assistance Commission revealed Monday that the form will be translated into the Yup'ik, Navajo and Apache languages, bringing the total non-English offerings to 20 languages. The EAC said this expansion was done in celebration of Native American Heritage Month and as part of its efforts to improve voting accessibility.
"The Navajo Nation leads history again by allowing our sacred language to be translated to register more of our people to vote," said Seth Damon, leader of the Navajo Nation Council. "The Native American vote is powerful and our Sovereign Nations will continue to decide elections across the United States."
Native Americans were not granted full U.S. citizenship or the right to vote until the passage of the Snyder Act in 1924. And over the last century, Native American voters have faced significant barriers to the ballot box. During the 2020 election, mail voting access was of particular concern since many Native American voters live in areas without traditional mailing addresses or access to postal offices.
" Alaska Native people deserve equitable access to all parts of the electoral process, and translating important forms and content into our Indigenous languages is an important step in that direction," said Samantha Mack, language assistance compliance manager at the Alaska Division of Elections.
Eligible U.S. citizens can use the national voter registration form, but must follow state-specific instructions to register or update their voting information. Apart from English and the three Native American languages, the form is available in Amharic, Arabic, Bengali, Chinese, French, Haitian Creole, Hindi, Japanese, Khmer, Korean, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Somali, Spanish, Tagalog and Vietnamese.
All of the language offerings are written translations, except for Apache, which is the first ever audio translation of the form. Some Native American languages are primarily or solely spoken languages, making written translations essentially impossible.
"Election terminology can often be difficult to translate into other languages without the assistance of native speakers and translators," the EAC commissioners said in a joint statement. "With access to election materials translated by native speakers from within their own communities, Native American voters will have a better understanding of the election process and greater accessibility."
The Navajo Nation also hopes to have a Navajo audio translation that talks voters through the form, Damon said. The EAC said in its announcement that the agency plans to expand upon the audio translations it offers in the future, as well as explore other ways to improve voting access for Native Americans.
"Working with Indigenous speakers to translate the national mail voter registration form into Yup'ik, Apache and Navajo languages eliminates some obstacles that limit native voter participation in U.S. elections and lives up to Section 203 of the Voting Rights Act," said Native American Rights Fund staff attorney Matthew Campbell, who leads the nonprofit legal organization's voting rights work. "Meaningful democracy reform requires this kind of inclusive participation and a commitment to support the rights of all eligible citizens to vote."
U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a“ Steel Across America” event ahead of the 25th anniversary of the Sept. 11th attacks on the Ellipse near the White House on Sept. 8, 2026 in Washington, D.C. President Trump welcomed 9/ 11 first responders to the Tunnel to Towers Foundation’ s“ Steel Across America” event featuring a 16,900- pound, 21- foot steel beam recovered.
For Trump, even 9/11 is an opportunity
There was a reason organizers of the 9/11 ceremony in Manhattan told President Trump he could not speak at this year’s memorial service.
A good one, it turns out.
Because in a speech he gave on Tuesday in Washington, he did exactly what they were presumably worried about — he made it about himself.
According to The New York Times, Trump had wanted a speaking role at the service, but the National Sept. 11 Memorial and Museum, which oversees the site, said no, as they’ve maintained for the past decade-plus that the venue and event should be nonpartisan.
Trump has long used awful tragedies to either puff himself up, trash political opponents, or sell lies to the American people.
He blamed a deadly plane crash at Washington National Airport last year on diversity, equity and inclusion policies. He blamed Puerto Ricans for the devastation they endured after Hurricane Maria in 2017. He reportedly considered withholding disaster relief after the California wildfires based on the way affected regions voted. In an interview on Fox News meant to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy, he used the occasion to slam former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi…with graves of the dead behind him.
And now, as we approach the 25th anniversary of what many New Yorkers consider the darkest day in modern history, Trump has done it again.
He told a rambling, nonsensical story — one he’s told before — about going to Ground Zero just after terrorists flew two commercial jets into the twin towers. In the story, which no one has been able to verify, despite multiple attempts, he says firefighters had to carry him out of One Liberty Plaza, also known as the U.S. Steel Building, because they thought it was about to collapse.
As CNN fact checker Daniel Dale notes, there’s no evidence Trump went into this building, especially at a time when NYPD and NYFD had locked down the area. There’s no evidence that building was collapsing — in fact, it was deemed structurally sound and reopened within two months of the attacks. There’s no evidence he was carried out of it by firefighters.
But the lie isn’t even the worst part. Pretend it was all true — why would the leader of our country, and a New Yorker, decide to make that tragic day about himself?
Because that’s who Donald Trump is. He’s a malignant narcissist.
He’s also, incidentally, a terrible and ineffectual president, who’s made ill-fated decisions that he has to keep defending, and there’s nothing he won’t do to make himself look and feel better.
Within the first two minutes of his speech, he was cravenly using 9/11 to justify and promote his dumb war in Iran — two events separated by 25 years and 6,000 miles.
“And I will tell you, we’re right now fighting because we have a certain nation that wanted a nuclear weapon, they were very close to getting it, and now they have no chance at getting it. They will never have a nuclear weapon. Iran will not have a nuclear weapon. And they’ve been punished greatly. As you know, we’ve really taken it to them.”
As a New Yorker who lived through 9/11, still one of the worst days of my life, I’m utterly sickened by Trump’s crass, political, and self-promotional framing of that awful day.
And I’m relieved he won’t be given a platform to do it again on Friday’s anniversary in lower Manhattan.
Because for Trump, everything is his for the taking, and absolutely nothing is sacred.
S.E. Cupp is the host of "S.E. Cupp Unfiltered" on CNN.