Groups File Lawsuit Challenging North Dakota Voter ID Law and Call for Relief for Many Eligible North Dakota Voters At Risk of Disenfranchisement Before Election Day

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Despite the Native American Community Mobilizing to Issue Valid IDs, Many May Still Be Denied the Right to Vote, Lawsuit Indicates 

BISMARCK, ND. – Today, Campaign Legal Center (CLC), the Native American Rights Fund, and partners, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Spirit Lake Tribe and six individual plaintiffs to ensure that eligible Native American voters residing on reservations in North Dakota will be able to cast a ballot in the 2018 midterm elections and in all future elections.

Under current law, North Dakotans can’t vote unless they have identification that shows their name, birth date, and residential address. Recent investigations demonstrate that the law threatens to disenfranchise not only those who do not have street addresses or access to the necessary ID but also those whose addresses the state deems “invalid.” The state’s own addressing system appears to be incomplete, contradictory, and prone to error on reservations.

North Dakota tribal communities have been mobilizing to provide the necessary IDs to those living on reservations, with no help from the state of North Dakota. Despite their efforts, North Dakota’s voter ID law could prevent many eligible Native Americans from casting a ballot in the upcoming election on November 6. The lawsuit asks the court to provide targeted relief for affected voters in time for Tuesday’s election.

NARF Staff Attorney Matthew Campbell stated, “The state has pushed through a voter identification system that is confusing and in disarray. And people living on reservations are being most affected. Reservation addresses in the state’s database are inconsistent, inaccurate, and uncertain. Homes are listed on streets identified as ‘unknown’ and in towns that are off the reservations. Figuring out the state’s peculiar listings for residential addresses on reservations should NOT be a pre-requisite to voting, and the Native American Rights Fund is committed to fighting these discriminatory policies.”

“State policies should be designed to make it easier for all citizens to vote, but North Dakota’s voter ID law disenfranchises Native Americans living on reservations,” said Danielle Lang, senior legal counsel, voting rights and redistricting at CLC. “We have a choice between a democracy that includes all eligible voters and a system that excludes people based on their circumstances or backgrounds. Unless the court steps in, eligible Native American voters including our clients may be denied the right to vote next week due to the state’s deeply flawed system of assigning and verifying voters’ residential addresses.”

Many streets on the Spirit Lake Reservation do not have marked signs, and many houses are not labeled with numbers. The State of North Dakota has not provided the Spirit Lake Tribe with any resources to assist members in obtaining IDs with residential street addresses, as is now required by state law to cast a regular ballot. Many voters living on reservations may be at risk even though they have no reason to think that their IDs are insufficient due to the fact that their county – through an inconsistent 911-emergency addressing system that omits some residences – has assigned them a different address. Denied absentee ballot applications have been the warning sign for additional disenfranchisement to come if the court does not step in.

As if the address situation were not confusing enough, Secretary of State Alvin Jaeger has taken steps to worsen the situation, refusing to provide public comment on whether poll workers will accept addresses printed on newly issued IDs, while simultaneously warning that residential street addresses on IDs must not be “incorrect,” which creates a particular chill for Native American voters in light of the uncertainty caused by the response to the newly effective law.

On October 9, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to reinstate the statewide ban on enforcing the voter ID requirement, forcing Native Americans to work around the clock to comply with the law in the final month before the midterm elections. Today’s filing asks for more targeted relief based on evidence related to Secretary of State Jaeger’s enforcement of the law and is with the U.S. District Court of North Dakota Western Division, the same court that issued the April ban that ordered the state to accept otherwise valid forms of identification that listed either a current residential street address or mailing address.

Today’s lawsuit is filed under the name: Spirit Lake Tribe v. Jaeger. Learn more by visiting our case page.

Issues
Voting and Elections

Spirit Lake Tribe, et al. v. Jaeger

At a Glance

North Dakota’s voter ID law requires that voters’ identification include their current residential street address in order to cast a regular ballot. The use of a residential address requirement negatively impacts the ability of Native Americans living on reservations in North Dakota to exercise their right to vote.

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Closed
Updated
Issues
Voting and Elections
About This Case/Action

Background

On April 24, 2017, North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum signed House Bill 1369. The new law required voters to have a valid ID with their name, birth date, and current residential address. If a “valid” residential address is not listed on the ID, ballots cast will be considered ineligible unless the voter provides in-person proof of their residential address within a specified period.

On behalf of several Native American tribes, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF) filed Brakebill v. Jaeger, in the U.S. District Court for the District of North Dakota to declare the new law discriminatory, and in violation of the plaintiff’s constitutional rights.

In February 2018, the district court invalidated the residential street address aspect of the law and ordered the Secretary of State to accept otherwise valid forms of identification that listed either a current residential street address or a current mailing address. Evidence showed that Native Americans disproportionately lack residential street addresses, particularly in the rural areas of the reservation where the County has not even provided addresses to many homes on reservations.  Most Native Americans used their P.O. boxes on their IDs, because that is the only way they can get mail.

In October 2018 the Supreme Court upheld the Eighth Circuit Court’s decision and declined to reinstate the statewide ban on enforcing the voter ID requirement.

The North Dakota Native American community has been working around the clock to provide the necessary IDs to those living on reservations, with no help from the state of North Dakota. Despite their efforts, North Dakota’s voter ID law could prevent many Native Americans from casting a ballot in the upcoming election on November 6.

On October 30, 2018, NARF and CLC filed Spirit Lake Tribe, et. al. v. Jaeger, a complaint to ensure that Native American voters’ right to vote is not burdened by the State’s failure to develop a functional addressing system on reservations.

Impact on Native American Voters

The residential street address requirement has the potential to disenfranchise many voters throughout North Dakota simply because they live on a reservation. The State and Counties have created a dysfunctional addressing system and are now seeking to ensure that the ID cards Native American voters present—even when it lists their residential street address—match the State’s faulty records.  The right to vote cannot be infringed in that manner.

It is not uncommon for residencies on reservations to not have an assigned street address. Many streets do not have marked signs and many houses are not labeled with numbers. Many members of the Native American community who do have street addresses assigned by 911 do not know their address and have not been notified of their address.

Members often understood their homes to have preexisting residential street addresses that no longer corresponds to 911 addresses because the county, unbeknownst to them, assigned them a different address in the 911 system. Not only were the members not informed, but some of the 911 addresses assigned to individuals do not correspond with the actual physical location of their fixed permanent dwelling.  Some homes were given multiple addresses, some homes were identified as occupying multiple cities, and some streets have multiple names.

The implementation of procedures for verifying the residential address requirement is not only challenging for voters, but has resulted in substantial confusion for election officials. Because the systems for assigning and verifying residential addresses are deeply flawed, and have generated significant confusion, qualified Native American voters face a substantial risk of being denied the right to vote. Indeed, Native voters have already been denied access to the ballot.In addition to challenges mentioned above, the state recently issued IDs with the “wrong” addresses. When attempting to vote, several members who obtained state issued IDs with addresses provided by the North Dakota Department of Transportation (DOT), were informed that the address they were provided did not match the DOT database or was invalid. Voters with an otherwise valid form of ID listing a residential address had no idea that they were disenfranchised.

This failure on the part of the State and County governments to provide a basic governmental service—naming public roads, posting signs on them, and posting address signs—is disturbing given the primary purpose is to ensure that emergency services can reach residents. Here this confusion and disarray jeopardizes the most fundamental right in our country—the right to vote. 

 

“Residential Address” Requirement Violates Voting Rights Protections

North Dakota’s voter ID law violates the First and Fourteenth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution by imposing undue burden on the right to vote. The State’s failure to provide a coherent, singular, and consistent residential addressing system to Native Americans places an undue burden on voters seeking to exercise their right to vote. Native American voters have been and will continue to be denied the right to vote due to the state’s deeply flawed system of assigning and verifying voters’ residential addresses.

Plaintiffs

SPIRIT LAKE TRIBE, on its own behalf and
on behalf of its members,
DION JACKSON,
KARA LONGIE,
KIM TWINN,
TERRY YELLOW FAT,
LESLIE PELTIER,
CLARK PELTIER,

Defendant

ALVIN JAEGER, in his official capacity as Secretary of State

Victory! Arizona Agrees to Adopt and Implement New Early-Ballot Signature Policy, Easing a Key Burden on Voting Rights

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Yesterday, in response to letters sent by a coalition of Arizona groups, Maricopa County Recorder Adrian Fontes announced that he has agreed to adopt and implement a new early-ballot signature policy. This new policy will permit all voters to cure problems with their signature, even those whose ballots are received on or just before Election Day. If a mismatched signature problem is not identified by officials or resolved prior to the close of polls on Election Day, those early ballots will be treated as conditional provisional ballots. All ballots must be received by 7 pm on Election Day to be afforded this opportunity. Recorder Fontes’s office will provide notice to all affected and voters will have up to five business days to confirm their signatures.

Now, in at least Maricopa, Coconino, and Pima counties, voters can correct signature mismatch errors by contacting their recorder in the days following the election. Voters who have cast early ballots should track the status of their early ballot online at this website.

The Campaign Legal Center, ACLU, ACLU of Arizona, and Scharff PLC worked to reach this agreement on behalf of a coalition of Arizona groups: League of United Latin American Citizens-Arizona, Arizona Advocacy Network Foundation, League of Women Voters-Arizona, and All Voting is Local-Arizona.

The lawyers assisting the coalition released the following statement:

“We are pleased that voters in Arizona’s three counties—including the two most populous counties in Arizona—will not have their absentee ballots rejected because officials are not ‘satisfied’ that the signature on the ballot matched the voter’s registration signature. These counties are leading the way to ensure that Arizona voters get due process by giving all voters a chance to confirm their signature. We hope that other counties follow suit and the Secretary of State will finally issue concrete guidance on this issue. We look forward to working with Recorder Fontes going forward and monitoring the details of the policy as it it’s finalized next week.”

Issues
Voting and Elections
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