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collectors. 09/09120 Trial Tr. (McCool) at 325:22-326:21,332:5-10,339:17-24; see also 09110/20 Trial Tr. (Hood) at 583:4-21. 20. Geographic and socioeconomic barriers. a. Voting by mail can increase votel costs for low-income people, people with less education and voters who live in remote areas with poor mail service - demographic and geographic attributes that Native American voters residing on rural reservalions reflect at a far higher rate than the general population. Pl. Ex. 23 at 3-7lstip. Ex. 4; see also 09109/20 Trial Tr. (McCool) at 3 19: i 5-320: l6 , 341:24-343:13; 09108/20 Trial Tr. (Street) at 210:8-212:13. b. Testimony at trial established that considerable numbers of Native Americans living on reservations are unemployed and live below the poverty level. 09/08/20 Trial Tr. (Mcl-ean) at 50:14-16; 09/08120 Trial Tr. (Fyant) at 9l:.10-12;91:22-25; 92:8-9; 09108120 Trial Tr. (Cuts the Rope) at 123:13-16; 127:21,-128:10:' 09109120 Trial Tr. (McCool) at351:22-355:12; Pl. Ex. 113,llfl 65-69/Stip. Ex. c. 2. Testimony presented at trial demonstrated that higher poverty levels than the rest of Montana's population result in a lack of working vehicles, money for gasoline, or car insurance, making travel difficult on the reservations. 09/08/20 Trial Tr. (Perez) at 7l:17-73:22; 74:13-18; 09108120 Trial Tr. (Cuts the Rope) at 123:13124:6;09108120 Trial Tr. (Fyant) at 94:22-95:15 "Sometimes we have to make choices between buying a tank ofgas or, you know, buying food for our 09108120 family."; Trial Tr. (Bear Don't Walk) at 186:7-12; Pl. Ex. 113, Ifl13,23,37,65- 69/Stip. Ex. 2. l5

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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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