Voter fraud and Native Americans, part 1

by: Jay Stevens

Thu Jun 07, 2007 at 07:36:47 AM MST

The lawsuit contends Crow tribal members formed a slate of candidates "based on race" and violated state and federal election laws governing political campaigns. The suit also charges that reports of "double-voting" by tribal members in the November election were not thoroughly investigated by federal officials.

Among the plaintiffs is the Citizens Equal Rights Alliance, a South Dakota-based group that contends tribal governments should be abolished and the U.S. Constitution should trump American Indian law.

The lawsuit contends that as a result of the alleged irregularities, nontribal members in Big Horn County were denied equal voting rights. Big Horn County includes much of the Crow Reservation. Elections for more than a dozen county positions were included on the November ballot, according to plaintiff's attorney, Richard Stephens.

Defendants of the suit include Deputy Secretary of State Elaine Graveley, Big Horn County Clerk Cyndy Maxwell, and old pal Brad Johnson, the same fella who wanted to abolish same-day voter registration because of non-existent voter fraud.

I suspect there's never been anyone happier to be sued than Mr. Johnson.

And here in Montana, where Democrat Jon Tester ousted powerful incumbent Republican Conrad Burns by a smidgen over 3,000 votes, Native American votes were crucial. Besides the sharp antipathy felt towards Senator Burns because of his support for Washington Senator Slade Gorton's attempts to restrict tribal jurisdiction, massive Native American turnout and support for Tester was the result of several key ingredients aiding local grassroots efforts to whip up voters on the reservations:

It has taken local activists years, said [State Senator Carol] Juneau, to build any sense among the residents that there is reason to engage in politics outside the reservation. Besides, state authorities--and politicians of both parties--actively kept Indians out of the process. Voting-rights suits brought by aggrieved Native American voters in the 1980s and redistricting in 2003 created three new constituencies--two in the Senate and one in the House--in which Native voters predominated, and several more competitive districts across the state. The plan was overseen by Janine Pease Pretty on Top, one of the early voting-rights plaintiffs.

Instead of conducting outsider "outreach" to minority voters, Democrats in Montana gave enough resources directly to local Native American leaders that they could participate on an equal footing and build their own base. Pat Williams, a longtime US Congressman from Montana who worked energetically for Native rights, remembers the process: To start, "we gave that money to a virtually all-white, all-male consulting group in Helena.... They didn't consult. The effort collapsed." The next time around, over the objections of his political staff, Williams saw to it that GOTV money went straight to the reservations, into the hands of the local Native leadership. "I was assured by everybody that the Indians would drink the money. Instead they had the highest gain of any ethnic group in any state in registration and turnout."

...By election day [2004], an estimated 4,000 new voters--about 10 percent of the voting reservation population--were newly registered, and more were running for office. The delegation sent to Helena after the 2004 election included eight Native Americans--the second highest number of Native legislators in any state, all Democrats. The lowest turnout of registered voters on any reservation was 46 percent, and the highest topped 64 percent. In 2006 the number of Native Americans winning election rose again, to ten--the most ever. On Juneau's Blackfeet Reservation, 83 percent of all voters went for Jon Tester. "It shows the power of the Indian vote in Montana," said Juneau, who was elected to the State Senate that same day.

The worst nightmare of the Republican party: minority citizens lining up to vote.

Tomorrow: A look a CERA and their goals and their lawsuit.