County Agrees to Federal Supervision of Elections After Charges of Discrimination Against Native Americans
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: media@aclu.org; (212) 549-2666
LAKE ANDES, SD – In a historic agreement
reached today with the American Civil Liberties Union, a South Dakota county has
agreed to federal supervision of its elections through 2024. The settlement
resolves a 2005 ACLU lawsuit charging Charles Mix County with discriminating
against Native American voters in violation of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 and
the Fourteenth and Fifteenth Amendments to the United States
Constitution.
“This is a landmark settlement,” said Bryan
Sells, a staff attorney with the ACLU's Voting Rights Project and the lead
attorney on the case. “It will protect Native American voting rights in Charles
Mix County for many years to come."
Under the settlement, approved today by
U.S. District Judge Lawrence L. Piersol of Sioux Falls, the county is required
to get approval from the federal government before implementing new voting laws
in the county through 2024. The settlement also authorizes federal election
observers to monitor county elections through 2014 and requires the county to
pay $110,000 in attorneys’ fees and expenses.
Today’s agreement stems from a dispute over
the districts used in elections for county commissioners. In November 2001, the
ACLU wrote to the county on behalf of the Yankton Sioux Tribe complaining that
the county’s districts violated the one-person-one-vote principle of the
Fourteenth Amendment and diluted Native American voting strength by splitting
the Indian community into two districts. Although state law required the county
to redraw districts in February 2002, the county commission voted to leave its
then-current districts in place.
After further investigation, the ACLU
brought a lawsuit on behalf of four tribal members. Their complaint
charged not only that the district boundaries were unlawful but also that the
commission’s decision to leave them in place was intentionally discriminatory.
Judge Piersol ruled in July 2006 that the districts violated the Fourteenth
Amendment but reserved ruling on the plaintiffs’ other claims. Today’s
settlement resolves all remaining issues in the case.
"This settlement helps insure that the
Native American voters of Charles Mix can fully participate in the political
life of their county,” said Jennifer Ring, Executive Director of the ACLU of the
Dakotas. “Furthermore, it is another step forward on the road to full equality
and healing of past wounds. That journey is long overdue and hard to undertake
but it is possible and – as this case proves – well worth all the
effort."
This is the second settlement reached by
the ACLU involving allegations of voting discrimination against Native Americans
in Charles Mix County.
In March 2003, the ACLU settled a similar
lawsuit against the Wagner Community School District over an election system
which allegedly diluted Native American voting strength in elections for the
school board. Under that agreement, the school district agreed to use an
alternative system that resulted in greater Native American
representation.
The case settled today, Blackmoon v.
Charles Mix County, is one of seven lawsuits brought in federal court since 1999
by the ACLU on behalf of Native American voters in South Dakota. To date, all
seven of these cases have been resolved in favor of the Native American
plaintiffs.
Attorneys on this case are Sells of the
ACLU’s Voting Rights Project and cooperating attorney John Keller of Huron,
South Dakota.
A copy of today’s settlement is available
at:
www.aclu.org/votingrights/minority/32971lgl20071204.html
More information on the ACLU’s Voting Rights Project is available at: www.aclu.org/voting-rights