Greeting Tribal Leaders and Members: Today is another great day in Indian County on Voting Rights I am sending you our press release but I also wanted to share with you an article on the Wandering Medicine case. inthesetimes/article/16787/mission_to_muckrake Huge Win in Wandering Medicine Voting Rights Case For Indian Country. Defendants Agree to Establish Satellite Voting Offices on Montana Indian Reservations And Agree to Pay Plaintiffs’ Attorneys Fees in the Amount of $100,000. Statement by OJ and Barb Semans, Co-Executive Directors regarding the settlement of Wandering Medicine et al. vs McCulloch, Custer et al. Voting Rights Case Quotes Tex Hall, Chairman, Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara Nation, Chairman, Coalition of Large Tribes “The Wandering Medicine victory was a good day for the plaintiffs and Indian Country. Our vote matters and States need to make sure they make voting access equal for Indian Country. This victory could make the difference in many elections.” Alex Rate, attorney for Wandering Medicine Plaintiffs Given the history of discrimination against Montanas first peoples, we believe that everyone should have equal access to the ballot box, and this agreement is a giant step towards reaching that goal. Further, this agreement validates the central pillar of Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act - that Indian voters must have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. Four Directions is ecstatic about the settlement in the Wandering Medicine case. The Plaintiffs Mark Wandering Medicine, Winfield Russell, Charles Bear Comes Out, Hugh Club Foot of Northern Cheyenne Nation, James Day Child, Woodrow Brien, Marty Other Bull, Newlyn Little Owl of Crow Nation and Donovan Archambault, Ed (Buster) Moore, Patty Quisno, Michael D. Fox of Fort Belknap Indian have settled the case with Defendants Secretary of State Linda McCulloch, Rosebud County and Rosebud County Auditor Geraldine Custer, Blaine County and Big Horn County. Four Directions, at the request of the Plaintiffs assisted their journey from filing the complaint in October of 2012 to the preliminary injunction hearing at which the plaintiffs were denied justice by now disgraced and retired Federal Judge Richard Cebull.. We continued the journey with the Plaintiffs on to the appeal before the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in Portland Oregon which set aside Judge Cebull’s prejudiced order. The journey continued back to District Court in Montana with a new Judge with a trial set for June 30th 2014. But before we got there a settlement conference was ordered before Federal Magistrate Judge Lynch in Billings, Montana. What the Plaintiffs and Four Directions had said from the beginning was that Defendants could and should establish in-person late registration and absentee balloting satellite offices on Montana Indian Reservations so Tribal members would have an equal opportunity to participate in the political process. If the Secretary of State and Blaine, Big Horn County wanted to settle the case they had to establish these satellite offices in Fort Belknap Lame Deer, and Crow Agency, the Tribal Capitols of the Fort Belknap Indian Community, Northern Cheyenne Nation and Crow Nation. On June 10th 2014, the Defendants agreed. Starting October 7th 2014, Tribal members will have 2 days out of every week (Wednesdays and Thursdays) to late register and cast in-person absentee ballots on these three Reservations. Montana Secretary of State McCulloch, working with Big Horn, Blaine and Rosebud Counties must establish these satellite offices. During the days these satellite offices are open in Fort Belknap, Lame Deer, and Crow Agency, Blaine, Rosebud, and Big Horn Counties have decided to close their main election office at the County Courthouse. Accordingly, Blaine, Rosebud, and Big Horn County residents will be unable to late register and cast in-person absentee ballots on Wednesdays and Thursdays at their county courthouses. We said it could be done and although it was a long hard fight, we did it. This victory is not just for our brothers and sister on these three reservations. It is a victory for all Montana Tribes as they too now know they can request a satellite office on their Reservation. The Wandering Medicine settlement firmly establishes in-person satellite offices as a legal and needed option for Native American residing on Montana Indian Reservations. Four Directions will continue to work with Montana Tribes to establish voting equality and we call on Montana Secretary of State McCulloch to find a solution to the technology glitch that has forced Counties to only be able to have one voting office open on any given day. We believe a much better solution is for both the county courthouse and the Reservation satellite office to be open 5 days per week. In order to do so, she should request the Montana Votes vendor (Hewlett Packard) help solve this issue. Four Directions wants our brothers and sisters throughout the Federal 9th Circuit that this also opens the door for Tribal Nations in Alaska, Arizona, California, Hawaii, Idaho, Nevada, Oregon and Washington States for greater equality voting. We encourage Tribal Nations and Tribal members demand equal access for in-person voting on their Reservations. THIS IS A GREAT VICTORY FOR INDIAN COUNTRY!!!!!!!
Posted on: Fri, 13 Jun 2014 22:44:02 +0000
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