Voting Rights Act – Page 4

In January 2014, Wolf Point School District officials conceded voting districts challenged in August 2013 violate the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. A settlement with the district calls for electing one board member from each of five voting districts to serve on the high school and elementary school boards and one member elected at-large district-wide to serve only on the high school board. Each of the new single-member districts will have populations that vary no more than 1.54 percent. This is a significant change from the existing system in which members of the majority white voting district have been electing one board member for every 143 residents and those in the majority Native American district have been electing one board member for every 841 residents. The settlement will be implemented over two years. The ACLU of Montana and the ACLU National Voting Rights Project sued the Wolf Point High School District in U.S. District Court in 2013 on behalf of seven Native American voters whose right to equal representation was being violated by these malapportioned school district voting districts that give some voters greater representation on the school board. The old districts violated the U.S. Voting Rights Act because they deprived Native Americans of the equal right to participate in the political process and elect representatives of their choice.

News coverage here.

Ninth Circuit Dismisses Wandering Medicine Voting Rights Appeal as Moot

October 30, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here is the unpublished order:

Wandering Medicine Mem Dispo

An excerpt:

Because we conclude that the scope of the preliminary injunction only included the 2012 election, this court can no longer provide plaintiffs with the relief requested—requiring defendants to open satellite offices in time for that election. Although plaintiffs’ complaint requested “preliminary and permanent injunctive relief . . . for the 2012 primary election and . . . for all future elections,” plaintiffs’ motion for a preliminary injunction included no such language, and the evidence presented to the district court focused almost exclusively on the 2012 election. As that election has passed, there is no longer any relief that this court can provide with respect to that election.

Briefs and other materials here.

Ninth Circuit Materials in Wandering Medicine v. McCulloch — Voting Rights Case

October 11, 2013October 11, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher1 Comment

Here are the briefs:

Wandering Medicine Opening Brief

NCAI Amicus Brief

US Amicus Brief

County Appellees’ Brief

Wandering Medicine Reply

Oral argument audio here.

Materials on the appellees’ motion to dismiss here.

Lower court materials here and here.

Pine Ridge Voting Rights Act Concludes

September 23, 2013September 23, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher

News coverage here. South Dakota will provide an in-person absentee voting station in Shannon County (Pine Ridge Reservation) for the same number of days as all other areas — 46 days as required under state law — compared to the six days provided to Pine Ridge. South Dakota, after the conclusion of the case, asked for costs; Judge Schreier denied that motion.

Here are the materials in Brooks v. Gant (D. S.D.):

159 DCT Order Dismissing Complaint wo Prejudice

161 South Dakota Bill of Costs

161-1 Exhibit

162 Objection

163 DCT Order Denying Bill of Costs

An excerpt from docket number 163:

Under the facts of this case, it would be unjust to require plaintiffs to pay defendants’ costs. Defendants refused to provide plaintiffs with the relief they requested until this lawsuit was filed. It was only when defendants faced actual litigation that defendants were able to work cooperatively with each other to provide the relief sought by plaintiffs. Additionally, plaintiffs stood to gain nothing personally from this Voting Rights Act litigation. The action was brought by individual plaintiffs, all of whom are persons without great means, to vindicate the voting right of all Native Americans who live on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. Defendants on the other hand, who are being represented by the South Dakota Public Assurance Alliance, have the wherewithal to afford to pay their share of the costs associated with this litigation. Had defendants voluntarily agreed to provide the relief requested by plaintiffs when approached before the litigation was filed, they could have avoided the costs they are now seeking.

Alaska Natives Sue Alaska over Election Translations

July 22, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher

News coverage here.

Complaint when we get it.

The Hill: Indian Voting Rights Case Could Decide Control of Senate in 2015

July 16, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

An excerpt:

Carole Goldberg, a professor and vice chancellor at UCLA’s School of Law who has dealt extensively with Native American legal rights, said discrimination is widespread in many states with Native populations.

“There are persistent patterns where states have criminal jurisdiction on reservations and the counties that exercise this jurisdiction locate their facilities and services in a place convenient for the non-Native population and not the Native populations,” said Goldberg, who has donated to multiple Democratic candidates.

Continue reading →

ICT Profile on the Impact of Shelby County v. Holder on Indian Country

June 27, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Here.

Impact of SCT’s Voting Rights Act on Indian Country

June 26, 2013June 26, 2013Matthew L.M. Fletcher2 Comments

The potential implications of Shelby County may be massive for Indian voting. I’m no expert, but eyeballing the covered jurisdictions (or should I say formerly covered jurisdictions), I see a lot of Indian country.

I see Alaska and Arizona, but thousands upon thousands of Indian voters potentially affected. I see Shannon and Todd Counties in South Dakota. Obviously Lakota territory. ~~I even see Allegan County in Michigan, where the Gun Lake Tribe is located. [Wrong township.]~~ There’s Robeson County in North Carolina where the Lumbees are, and Kings County in California.