Tribal Members Sue Montana Officials Over Polling Place Locations
Indigenous voters in Montana sued state and county election officials Friday to get them to run polling places on the Fort Peck Reservation, as the current nearest locations are 20 to 30 miles away at county courthouses.
Members of the Fort Peck Assiniboine and Sioux Tribes noted in their lawsuit that if the officials don’t make this change, it “would reinforce the long history of official racial discrimination in voting practiced in the State of Montana.”
Montana has one of the largest indigenous populations in the country, and this lawsuit marks the seventh voting and election case filed in the state this cycle.
Democracy Docket is the only news outlet tracking and reporting on all of these cases — sign up for our free daily and weekly newsletters to get the latest updates sent straight to your inbox.
On Sept. 16, the tribal members submitted letters to officials in Roosevelt and Valley counties, asking them to establish satellite election offices on the Fort Peck Reservation in the Montana towns of Frazer and Poplar. These offices would provide in-person voter registration, late registration and early voting, which takes place as in-person absentee voting in Montana.
On Sept. 20, Roosevelt County officials said they limit late registration and early voting to the county seat, and Valley County officials said they would only offer 4.5 hours of late registration and in-person absentee balloting at a satellite location in Frazer.
On Friday, six tribal members filed a lawsuit against county officials and Montana Secretary of State Christi Jacobsen (R), arguing that traveling a far distance to register or vote places a significant burden on voters living on reservations, in violation of the right to vote in free and open elections under the state constitution.
They asked the court to order the election officials to establish satellite offices in Frazer and Poplar that will provide voter registration and in-person absentee ballot voting ahead of the 2024 election during the same hours that the Valley and Roosevelt County Courthouses voting sites offer.
The plaintiffs also asked the court to require the officials to open the satellite offices while litigation is ongoing since the election is a little over a month away. They urged the court to consider this request by the end of this week, as early voting in the state begins Monday.
“If this relief is not granted, members of the Tribes will have less opportunity to participate in the upcoming general election than other members of the electorate in violation of the Constitution of the State of Montana,” the plaintiffs said.