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j. Challenging weather can also make travel difficult, particularly in the election month of November. 09/08/20 Trial Tr. (Mclean) at 42:19-43:1;09108/20 Tnal Tr. (Perez) at 7 | :l k. 1 -7 3 :22. On the Blackfeet Reservation, for example, dependable vehicles that can manage difficult road conditions are rare, making a working vehicle in the election month of November especially difficult to come by. Pl. Ex. 118, !f 8. l. Tribal members on the Flathead Reservation frequently choose to forego a mail run to spend funds on food and heating. 09 m. The Secretary of State's Office reservations 108120 Trial Tr. (Fyant) at 95 :9-1 5. agrees that Native American voters in Montana are challenged by remoteness and a lack from rural of electrical power, cell phone and intemet. 09109120Tt'.alTr. (Corson) at 433:5-12 afi 434:6- 25; see also 09109/20 Trial Tr. (McCool) at333:20-337 5. n. There is evidence that Native Americans may be deterred from electoral participation by discrimination, especially discrimination at border towns. 09109/20 Trial Tr. (McCool) at 347:15-351:3; 09/08120 Trial Tr. (Fyant) at 109:l111:14. 21 . Satellite Voting Locations. a. The same burdens make it difficult to travel to "satellite" voting locations, which were first opened on reservations pursuant to a settlement in a federal voting rights case. Pl. Ex. 77lStip. 8x. 28. b. The settlement agreement entered into by parties Io Wandering Medicine v. McCulloch, CV No. 12-135, BLG-DWM (D. Mont.), and Election Directive #01- 2015 require the tribes and county officials to work together to determine the t7

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Western Native Voice v. Stapleton

Judgment

Question Presented: Whether the Ballot Interference Prevention Act violates the Plaintiff’s right to vote, right to free speech, right to association, and due process.

Alleged Acts: Montana presents unique challenges as the fourth largest state in terms of land size, but the third least densely populated. Consequently, most voters utilize the absentee voting procedure. Montana also is home to seven Reservations, intersecting with sixteen different counties. These Reservations each have unique challenges to voting including a lack of home mail delivery, transportation that does not run on a regular route, taking administrative leave to drive in groups to polling stations, limited mail routes and drop-off locations, lack of convenient P.O. boxes, and mail delays. Further, many Native American Reservations have difficulties traveling due to high poverty levels, lack of working vehicles, car insurance, licenses to drive off of reservations, or money for gasoline to travel to polling stations. Some Native Americans on Montana Reservations have voted through the collection and conveyance of their ballot to local election offices by community members and third parties.

Summary: The Defendants failed to provide evidence that the state of Montana has or ever had a problem with unsolicited ballot collection or ballot interference. Thus, because the Ballot Prevention Act interferes with fundamental rights it is required to meet strict scrutiny. The Ballot Interference Prevention Acts limits the number of ballots per collector to six ballots and the court determined that this did not meet a compelling state interests, lack basis, and the voter were uninformed of this limitation at the time of voting — ultimately failing a strict scrutiny test.

Conclusion: The court found in favor of the Plaintiffs stating that the Ballot Interference Prevention Action violated the right to free speech, right to vote, right to association, and right to due process.

Legal Issue(s)

Elections as a Fundamental Right
Indigenous Persons
Vote Verification and Transmission

Applicable Law(s): Ballot Inference Prevention Act

Region: Americas

Country: United States of America

Language of Decision

English

Court: Trial Court

Election Type: Review of law

Date of decision: Sep 25, 2020

Geolocation

Latitude: 46.55684320353664

Longitude: -112.0529752389978

: Geolocation

Primary Documents

Western Native Voice v. Stapleton.pdf
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Election Judgments - IFES

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Western Native Voice v. Stapleton

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