Native Americans in North Dakota Achieve Significant Victories for Fair Representation
Image source: Pexels.com
Native Americans have long been the target of discrimination in North Dakota, notably the denial of equal voting rights in state elections.
Most Native Americans in North Dakota were not allowed to vote until 1922. State legislators in North Dakota persisted in enacting legislation and implementing policies that discriminate against Native voters even after the tribe was eventually granted the right to vote. For instance, the state passed voter ID rules in 2013 and 2017, which mostly targeted Native people and made voting more difficult for those who resided on reservations.
Politicians from North Dakota have created unequal voting maps, which is a reflection of the state legislature’s history of prejudice.
Native Americans should have three state senate seats and six state house seats in the state legislature based on their relative population size. However, as a result of the most current redistricting plan, which was approved in 2021, Native Americans only had two state house seats and, for the first time since 1990, there were no Native American state senators in the legislature.
In an effort to advocate for Native voters in North Dakota over the last five years, the Campaign Legal Centre (CLC) and the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) have frequently worked together.
The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians and the Spirit Lake Tribe were most recently represented by CLC and NARF, along with additional legal counsel, in Turtle Mountain et al. v. Howe and the Mandan, Hidatsa, and Arikara (MHA) Nation.
Two legal actions, Walen v. Burgum, aim to guarantee Native North Dakotans an equal chance to be heard in state governance.
A federal court determined that North Dakota’s 2021 redistricting plan discriminated against Native voters in the northeastern region of the state in the Turtle Mountain case, which was brought by the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, the Spirit Lake Tribe, and impacted Native voters.
The Turtle Mountain court specifically determined that Native Americans would have less representation in the state legislature under North Dakota’s 2021 redistricting plan.
Native voices were drowned out and it became more difficult for Native voters to get elected as a result of the “cracking” and “packing” of Native voters on and around the Turtle Mountain and Spirit Lake reservations.
leaders who are most suited to work in their communities. A nondiscriminatory map will be in place for the 2024 election after the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the state’s plea to halt the injunction while an appeal was pending.
Native voters have had to struggle not only to challenge unjust districts created by politicians in the state, but also to protect the equitable districts that already exist.
For instance, in Walen v. Burgum, non-Native voters contested the establishment of a state house subdistrict that guaranteed Native voters residing on the Fort Berthold Reservation of the MHA Nation an equal opportunity to elect representatives to the state house, as mandated by Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act.
With the help of NARF, CLC, and the Law Offices of Bryan Sells, the MHA Nation overcame the issue and managed to keep the district intact.
Tweetable quote: Pro-voter rulings and significant victories for Native voters and fair representation were the outcomes of the Turtle Mountain and Walen lawsuits, which established and maintained fair maps and equitable representation for Native voters in North Dakota. Send this quote via Twitter.
These cases guarantee Native voters residing on and around the Turtle Mountain, Spirit Lake, and MHA Nation Reservations a fair opportunity to participate in state elections and elect the legislators they support, pending the resolution of any appeals.
In addition, as Tim Purdon, attorney for the Spirit Lake and Turtle Mountain Tribes and a former US Attorney for the District of North Dakota, noted in relation to the Turtle Mountain case, these cases also cleared the path for the following generation of Native attorneys to represent Native Americans’ right to vote in a civil rights lawsuit:
“Having Native American attorneys on the team is crucial, as they play a major role in this…This trial serves as a training ground for the next generation of civil rights attorneys. Furthermore, the Campaign Legal Centre and NARF were essential to the outcome of this action. Their involvement in the case has proven to be crucial.
These historic victories should be recognized as significant advancements in the fight for Native American voting rights in North Dakota, but the fight for fair representation and equitable access to the voting booth for Native voters in North Dakota and across the nation will not end here.
0