Feds: Judge Wrong to Deny Indian Satellite Voting.
Source: nyt/ap
Civil rights attorneys from the U.S. Justice Department contend a federal judge wrongly denied a request to establish satellite election offices for American Indians on three Montana reservations.
At issue in the case before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals are the long distances that some Indians in rural areas of the state must travel to reach county courthouses for early voting and late registration. . .
Justice Department attorneys say Cebull's decision was flawed.
In a friend-of-the-court brief filed this week, they said the judge overlooked the discrimination suffered by Indians who lack the resources to travel long distances. And just because some Indians are able to vote and elect their fellow Indians to office, the attorneys wrote, other Indians still could face travel difficulties that deny them equal access in the weeks before Election Day.
Montanans can vote by mail with early absentee ballots or by delivering ballots in person to county offices. Late registration begins at county offices a month before Election Day.
"Effectively, this gives folks living near the county seat almost 30 days more to vote. Indian tribal members living on the reservation effectively have only one day," said Derrick Beetso with the National Congress of American Indians, which also filed a brief in support of the plaintiffs.
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2013/03/28/us/ap-us-american-indians-elections.html?hp&_r=0