The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Jan. 17, 2025

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

Native American voters prevailed in federal court against the State of North Dakota, protecting the ability to elect the candidate of their choice.  The state has a history of diluting Native voting power.

January 13th, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a redistricting case we covered back in May 2024, affirming a North Dakota Federal Appeals Court decision.  The appeals court had dismissed a state house district challenge by two non-native residents, who claimed their rights were infringed.

The case dates back to 2021, when the Mandan, Hidatsa and Arikara nations, also known as the MHA Nation, negotiated with the State to protect Native voting power under the 1965 Voting Rights Act, Section 2.  After an agreement, State GOP officials later shamefully reversed positions in 2022, embracing a new GOP tactic which argues such majority-minority districts are a violation of the Equal Protection Clause under the U.S. Constitution.  The same argument has been made in Robinson v. Callais over Louisiana’s now two majority-minority districts. 

The MHA Nation decision protects North Dakota State House District 4A and three other districts –  great news for Native voters. But the Louisiana case is expected to be heard in the high court early in 2025, and the conservative justices seem to have made it their mission to dismantle the VRA.   

We have links to the history of the case at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl. 

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
North Dakota Legislature – District 4

North Dakota Monitor – North Dakota changes course on tribal redistricting case, asks US Supreme Court to rule

North Dakota Monitor – Supreme Court upholds North Dakota’s majority-Native legislative subdistricts
Campaign Legal Center – Supreme Court Upholds Fair Map for Native Voters in North Dakota
Native American Rights Fund – North Dakota Native voting rights upheld by Supreme Court

U.S. District Court for North Dakota – (2023 – Via Democracy Docket) District Court Decision

Groups Taking Action:

Native American Rights Fund, Campaign Legal Center, Election Law Group , ACLU North Dakota

Register or Check Your Voter Registration:

U.S. Election Assistance Commission – Register And Vote in Your State

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #NativeVote #VotingRightsAct #VRA #FreedomtoVote

The post ND Native American Nation Prevails in Protecting Majority-Minority Voting Districts.  A Victory for Minority Voters, But GOP Efforts to Neutralize the VRA Continue appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for April 2, 2024

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

In a victory for voters, Montana’s Supreme Court upheld a lower court decision March 27th, striking down four anti-voter laws which disproportionately impacted younger, disabled and Native American voters.

Montana’s constitution contains a “Right of Suffrage” clause which reads, “All elections shall be free and open, and no power, civil or military, shall at any time interfere to prevent the free exercise of the right of suffrage.”  The court affirmed that the legislature’s four bills passed in 2021 infringed on that right, among other deficiencies.

HB 176 eliminated the ability to register and vote on election day, in place since 2005 and often used by students and first-time Native American voters.  HB 530 banned paid ballot collection, making it impossible for paid get-out-the-vote workers to assist Native voters, students, the elderly, and the disabled in submitting their mail-in ballots.   

HB 506 prohibited sending mail-in ballots to voters who would be 18 by election day.  And SB 169 ended use of official student IDs as identification for voting purposes – revoking a law which had been in place for almost 20 years.  

“Election integrity” activists began pushing such cookie cutter suppression laws, after robust turnout of younger voters in recent elections.

We have links to the decision and the groups taking action at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.  I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Montana Constitution – II.13.  Right of Suffrage Provision
Montana Judicial Branch –  Opinion in Democratic Party v. Jacobsen
Montana Free Press – Montana Supreme Court declares 2021 voting laws unconstitutional
Flathead Beacon – Montana Supreme Court Strikes Down Election Laws
Election Law Blog – “The Montana Supreme Court Correctly Recognizes a Robust Right to Vote Under the State Constitution”
New Jersey Beacon – A top GOP lawyer wants to crack down on the college vote. States already are.


Groups Taking Action:
Montana Native Vote,  Native American Rights Fund, Montana Youth Action, Forward Montana Foundation, and Montana Public Interest Research Group

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #FreedomtoVote #YouthVoting #NativeVote #Montana #MontanaPolitics

The post Montana Supreme Court Throws Out Four Anti-Voter Laws Targeting Native American, Younger, Elderly, and Disabled Voters appeared first on American Democracy Minute.

The American Democracy Minute Radio Report & Podcast for Nov. 28, 2023

Today’s Script

(Variations occur with audio due to editing for time. Today’s Links below the script)

You’re listening to the American Democracy Minute, keeping YOUR government by and for the people.

A radical decision last week in an Arkansas racial gerrymandering case stopped voters and democracy groups from suing under the 1965 Voting Rights Act. The State of North Dakota took advantage of the decision to appeal to have their racially discriminating gerrymandered maps restored, struck down after a lower court found they suppressed Native American voting power.

The Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals decision said that only the U.S. Attorney General had standing to sue under the VRA, and the decision covers cases in Arkansas, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota and South Dakota.  The fringe decision is likely to end up in the U.S. Supreme Court.

The State of North Dakota was sued by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, the Spirit Lake Tribe, and individual Native voters in 2022, who argued that voting district maps were manipulated to suppress Native voting power.  As a result, for the first time since 1991 no Native American is serving in the North Dakota senate. November 17th, a federal court judge agreed, giving the state until December. 22nd to draw new fair maps. 

The Brennan Center for Justice writes that the Eighth Circuit’s Arkansas decision is likely doomed, either from an appeal with all judges presiding, or by the U.S. Supreme Court.  The Brennan Center said about the case, “It is not just wrong but shockingly so, radically out of step with the history of the Voting Rights Act and decades-old practices.”  

We have a story on the North Dakota appeal and the Eighth Circuit’s decision at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org.   I’m Brian Beihl.

Today’s Links

Articles & Resources:
Democracy Docket – North Dakota Legislative Redistricting Challenge (Turtle Mountain Band)
Native American Rights Fund –  COURT BLOCKS NORTH DAKOTA VOTING MAP THAT DISCRIMINATED AGAINST NATIVE VOTERS
CBS News Minnesota – In wake of Voting Rights Act ruling, North Dakota to appeal decision that protected tribes’ rights
Brennan Center for Justice – The Newest Attack on the Voting Rights Act

Groups Taking Action:
Native American Rights Fund, North Dakota Native Vote

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Find all of our reports at AmericanDemocracyMinute.org

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#Democracy  #DemocracyNews #EndGerrymandering #FairMaps #NativeAmericanVote

The post Radical Decision by Appeals Court in Arkansas Case Greenlights North Dakota Appeal to Restore Maps Designed to Suppress Native American Voting Power appeared first on American Democracy Minute.