Final answer:
States persisted in denying Native Americans the right to vote after the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, using justifications such as their residency status on reservations and their classification as wards of the government. It wasn't until later legislative and legal efforts, such as the Indian Reorganization Act, that these discriminatory practices began to be dismantled.
Step-by-step explanation:
Even after the passage of the Indian Citizenship Act of 1924, which extended citizenship and voting rights to all American Indians, many states continued to disenfranchise Indigenous people, thus preventing them from exercising their voting rights.
A significant barrier was that some states did not recognize Native Americans living on reservations as state residents. Consequently, they were denied the right to vote on the pretext that they were not subject to state laws and did not pay state taxes. Furthermore, certain states argued that Native Americans were wards of the government and, therefore, not eligible to vote, despite being granted U.S. citizenship.
Efforts to rectify this disenfranchisement included the Indian Reorganization Act of 1934, which sought to improve conditions for tribes and reaffirmed their right to self-governance.
Nevertheless, it was not until later in the 20th century that various legal battles and legislative changes gradually eliminated many of these discriminatory barriers. The persistent fight to ensure voting rights for Native Americans illustrates the broader struggle against segregation and discrimination that Indigenous peoples have faced for centuries in the United States.