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American communities, and an increase of Native American voters on Election Day. 09/08120 Trial Tr. (Fyant) at 99:18-101 :14; Pl. Ex. h. 104. CSKT members are more likely to live in the foothills and more rural parts of the reservation. This makes the travel times to amenities such as the post office more burdensome for many Natives than for non-Natives that live closer to amenities. 09/08n0 Trial Tr. (Fyant) at 90: i. 15 -91:2; 98:4-99:7 . Chairwoman Fyant testified at trial that "racism is alive and well on the Flathead Reservation." Given the tensions between members and non-members, many tribal members do not feel comfortable traveling to majority non-Native areas and do not feel comfortable going to in-person polling places staffed by non-members. 09/08120 Trial Tr. (Fyant) at 108:20-111:14. j. Organizational Plaintiffs collect ballots on the Flathead Reservation. Agreed Fact No. 35. 18. Fort Belknap Indian Community. a. The Fort Belknap Indian Community is a sovereign, federally recognized tribe with over 8,400 effolled Tribal members. Approximately 4,084 of those members live on the Reservation, and over 2,000 are 18 years of age or older. Agreed Fact No. 39. b. The Fort Belknap Reservation is home to the Assiniboine (I.{akoda) and Gros Ventre (Aaniiih) Tribes and is govemed by a tribal council. Agreed Fact No. 40. c. The Fort Belknap Reservation spans approximately 675,147 acres. Agreed Fact No. d. 4l. Andy Werk is the Fort Belknap President. Agreed Fact No. 66. 9

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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
English
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Election Judgments - IFES

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Western Native Voice v. Stapleton

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