New Materials in Navajo Nation v. San Juan County

Here:

Doc. 447 Order Denying 444 Motion 1.11.18

Doc. 448, Judgment, Final, Jan 11, 2018.

Doc. 449, Notice of Appeal, County 1.11.18

Desert Southwest Voting Rights Hearing

Link: Flyer(PDF)

Thursday, January 11, 2018 | 8:15 a.m. – 5:00 p.m.
ASU College of Law | Great Hall | 111 E Taylor St | Phoenix, AZ 85004
Regional Chair: Maria Dadgar, Inter Tribal Council of Arizona Executive Director

FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC
Register to attend or submit testimony: vote@narf.org

TELL YOUR STORY ABOUT VOTING IN NON-TRIBAL ELECTIONS
We want to hear about your experience in voter registration and voting in federal, state, and local (non-tribal) elections. Issues to be addressed include whether Native voters have opportunities in their communities that are equal to those of non-Natives or if they experience discrimination in:

• Location of voter registration
• Location of in-person voting
• Voter identification requirements
• Vote-by-mail
• Early voting
• Poll worker opportunities
• Redistricting
• Treatment at the polls
• Language barriers
• Other discrimination

Witnesses will include tribal leaders, advocates, and voters. If you would like to testify or want more information, please contact Patty Ferguson-Bohnee at indianlegalclinic@asu.edu.

VOTING RIGHTS IN INDIAN COUNTRY
The Native American Voting Rights Coalition is an alliance of national and grassroots organizations, scholars, and activists advocating for equal access for Native Americans to the political process. It is holding field hearings throughout Indian Country to document barriers to registration and voting in non-tribal elections. Information from the hearings will help promote public education, identify policy solutions, and advance other legal remedies to expand Native access to voting.

NARF: “Trump’s Voter Fraud Commission Not Gone, Just Gone Underground”

Here:

January 4, 2018 (Boulder, CO) – Last night, the President dissolved the ironically named Election Integrity Commission. This misguided effort was tasked with fruitlessly searching for evidence of voter fraud, which study after study shows is so rare that it’s nearly nonexistent. The Commission was a solution in search of a problem.  It also was beset by ongoing problems, such as being sued by its own members for failing to share critical information.

Given this, it was no surprise that the Commission was disbanded, but, make no mistake, this is no victory for voting rights advocates.  This change simply removes the Commission’s dangerous work from public scrutiny. The original Commission fell under the Federal Advisory Committee Act and was required to make certain information public.  (This was the basis of several of the lawsuits.) Now, however, the Commission’s press office announced it will turn its findings and work over to the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). This move means the fruitless work of searching for nonexistent voter fraud will continue under the protective rules of DHS and, more importantly, it is now the DHS that will issue any recommendations. So the Commission’s work continues, only now you won’t know what they are up to. NARF Staff Attorney Natalie Landreth promises, “NARF will be closely following the DHS work on ‘voter fraud,’ which inevitably will turn into recommendations for voter suppression.”

Protecting the voting rights of American Indians and Alaska Natives is one of NARF’s core areas of advocacy.  We currently represent Native Americans in North Dakota that have been disenfranchised by North Dakota’s discriminatory voter ID laws.  NARF also leads the Native American Voting Rights Coalition, a large group of organizations and individuals working together to protect voting rights across the country.

Navajo Nation v. San Juan County Updated Materials

Here:

441 – memorandum decision and order

441 – memorandum decision and order – exA

441 – memorandum decision and order – exB

441 – memorandum decision and order – exC

NYTs Profile of Indian Country Voting Rights Litigation

A must read!

Here is “For Native Americans, a ‘Historic Moment’ on the Path to Power at the Ballot Box.”

North Dakota Votings Rights Amended Complaint

Here is the amended complaint in Brakebill v. Jaeger (D.N.D.).

Special Master’s Final Report on Redistricting San Juan County

Here are the materials in the matter of Navajo Nation et al v. San Juan County et al, 12-cv-00039 (D. Utah):

Final Report of Bernard Grofman, Special Master

Link: Previous posts

Important Public Meeting Announcement in Navajo Nation v. San Juan County Case

Links: Public Meeting Announcement(PDF), previous posts

The court will hold public meetings in Monticello and Bluff to receive public input on proposed preliminary County Commission and School Board election districts.

Meeting Details:

Date: Thursday, November 16, 2017
Time: 10:30 am – 12:30 pm
Location: Hideout Community Center, 49 West 600 South St, Monticello, UT 84535

Date: Thursday, November 16, 2017
Time: 3:30 pm – 5:30 pm
Location: Bluff Community Center, 3rd East and Mulberry, Bluff Rd, Bluff, UT 84512

NCAI Hearing on Indian Country Voting in the Great Lakes — Milwaukee, October 16, 2017

Here is the announcement:

great lakes voting rights hearing_oct 2017

Special Master Appointment in Navajo Nation v. San Juan County

On September 29, 2017, the Court in Navajo Nation v. San Juan County issued an order appointing Dr. Bernard Grofman, University of California, Irvine, to serve as Special Master and oversee redistricting of the County’s School Board and Commission election districts (past and current districting plans were found to have violated the Equal Protection Clause in three previous decisions). The Court also ordered San Juan County to pay the costs associated with the Special Master process. The Court laid out a remedial redistricting process that will allow it to establish new remedial redistricting plans by December, 2017, in time for the 2018 election cycle.

Here:

Order Appointing Special Master