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also numerous Native Americans that are members of other tribes living on the Reservation, with 65 different tribes represented within the reservation boundary. The total Native American population comprises one quarter of the reservation population. Agreed Fact No. 31. b. The Reservation is located in western Montana and spans 1.3 million acres. Agreed Fact No. 32. c. Shelly Fyant is the Chairwoman ofthe Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes. 09/08/20 Trial Tr. (Fyant) at 88:15-17. d. Houses on the Flathead Reservation receive home mail delivery. Agreed Fact No. JJ. e. Some Native Americans who are enrolled members of CSKT have voted in Montana elections through the collection and conveyance of their ballots to their local election offrces by community members and third parties. Agreed Fact No. 34. f. CSKT spends $5,000 per year on GOTV efforts. 09/08/20 Trial Tr. (Fyant) at 99:13-17. g. CSKT's GOTV program mobilized CSKT community members druing the 2016 Election, Montana's 2017 Special Election, and the 2018 Election. CSKT hires one seasonal, temporary worker to run the program. The program utilizes voter education and various forms of support. CSKT organizes ballot collection events where the temporary worker collects ballots and disseminates non-partisan voter information. CKST's GOTV program resulted in registration of eligible voters in Native American communities, an increase of early voting in Montana's Native 8

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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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