U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder has a goal to require state and local election officials to place at least one polling site in a location chosen by tribal governments in parts of the nation that include tribal lands. Barriers to voting, he said, include English-only ballots and inaccessible polling places.
In Alaska, for example, the village of Kasigluk is separated into two parts by a river with no bridge. On election day, people on one side have just a few hours to vote before a ballot machine is taken by boat to the other side.
In Montana, a voting rights lawsuit is pending from tribal members on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap reservations. They want county officials to set up satellite voting offices to make up for the long distances they must travel to reach courthouses for early voting or late registration.
After consulting with tribal leaders, his office will seek to work with Congress on a potential legislative proposal, Holder said.
Associate Attorney General Tony West discussed the announcement Monday in Anchorage, during a speech to the National Congress of American Indians. West pointed to a Justice Department court filing last week that sided with plaintiffs in a voting rights lawsuit filed by several Alaska villages. The lawsuit alleges the state has failed to provide accurate, complete translations of voting materials into Alaska Native languages.
The Justice Department also intervened earlier this year in response to a plan by Cibola County, New Mexico, to eliminate voting-rights coordinators.
Remote geography and the inability to speak English do not free Americans from the obligations and responsibilities of citizenship, West said. Neither should they "impede the rights to which we are all entitled," he said.
"I think anything that involves tribes and tribal authority is extremely important," said Dr. Ted Mala, director of traditional healing at the Alaska Native Medical Center and director of tribal relations for an Anchorage-based tribal health services organization.
He said tribes have had more opportunities for such consultations with the federal government under the Obama administration.
Carol Schurz is a councilwoman for the Gila River Indian Community in Sacaton, Arizona. She said the community organizes its own elections and consults with state officials on state and federal elections.
Schurz encourages voter registration and said the Justice Department proposal would be well-received. She said it could empower indigenous voters "if we have the opportunity to get all our people engaged."
Schurz added: "I'm engaged in whatever I need to do as an Indian leader, as a community leader, so yes, it is important. Everybody has a right to vote."
NYC Wins When Everyone Can Vote!
Michael H. Drucker
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