Tribe wants high court to hear North Dakota voter ID dispute
Source: Associated Press
Updated 5:18 pm CDT, Friday, September 28, 2018
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — Lawyers representing a group of Native Americans told the U.S. Supreme Court Friday that keeping new voter ID requirements in place in North Dakota will lead to confusion during the upcoming election.
The emergency appeal comes just days after a federal appeals court stayed an injunction in the case. The injunction would have required the state to accept forms of identification and supporting documents that included a current mailing address, such as a post office box, instead of requiring a current street address.
Street addresses aren't always assigned on Native American reservations, so members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa sued the state, alleging its ID requirements discriminated against Native Americans. A district court judge agreed in April.
Read more: https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/Tribe-wants-high-court-to-hear-North-Dakota-voter-13266991.php
(Short article, no more at link.)
Two years ago:
North Dakota tribal members sue over voter ID laws
By Mike Nowatzki on Jan 21, 2016 at 1:32 p.m.
BISMARCK – North Dakota Secretary of State Al Jaeger was served with a lawsuit Thursday by seven members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa who claim that recent changes to the state’s voter identification laws infringe on their right to vote.
The lawsuit filed Wednesday in U.S. District Court in Bismarck asks the court to find that voter ID requirements passed by state lawmakers in 2013 and 2015 “disproportionately burden and disenfranchise Native Americans,” and to declare them unconstitutional and stop Jaeger from enforcing them.
. . .
The 45-page complaint claims some plaintiffs were refused the right to vote in November 2014 because their tribal ID didn’t list a current residential address. It says some tribal members can’t afford a new tribal ID or the documentation needed to obtain a state driver’s license or non-driver ID card.
North Dakota is the only state in the nation without voter registration, having abolished it in 1951. An interim legislative committee is exploring whether the state should reinstate registration.
The lawsuit argues that Native Americans in North Dakota have higher rates of poverty and homelessness than the general population, face greater health threats and are less likely to have transportation. It also notes that none of the 27 driver’s license sites in North Dakota are located on the state’s five Indian reservations.
“The strict voter ID requirements of HB 1332 and 1333 interact with social and historical conditions to cause an inequality in the opportunities enjoyed by Native American and White voters to participate in the political process and elect their preferred representatives,” the lawsuit states.
Republican lawmakers passed House Bill 1332 in 2013, requiring voters to bring an acceptable form of ID showing their current address and birth date to the polls, saying it would help eliminate voter fraud.
http://www.grandforksherald.com/news/government-and-politics/3929801-north-dakota-tribal-members-sue-over-voter-id-laws
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