DLN Issues : South Dakota Government
NEWLY APPOINTED STATE SENATOR CO-SPONSORS BILL OPPOSED BY OTHER INDIANS
by Kim Karaff
Lakota Journal
Martin Bureau
PIERRE - Recent legislation introduced in the South Dakota State Legislature would require voters to provide identification before voting or before obtaining an absentee ballot, a law some see as directed toward limiting access to the polls by Indian voters in upcoming elections.
House Bill 1176 (HB1176) introduced January 30 requires all voters to show identification at the time of voting in the form of a valid South Dakota driver's license or nondriver identification card, a valid passport or other picture identification issued by an agency of the United States government, a tribal identification card with picture or a picture ID issued by an accredited institution of higher education located in South Dakota.
Further, all absentee ballot requests would have to be accompanied by either a signed oath verified by a notary public that the information in the request for the absentee ballot is valid or the application must be accompanied by a photocopy of the voter's identification card.
The legislation was introduced by Republican legislators. The prime sponsor of the HB 1176 in the House is representative McCaulley (R) and the Senate sponsor is Senator Bogue (R). Newly appointed Republican Senator Michael LaPointe (R-Mission) also signed on as co=sponsor of the bill. Senator LaPointe represents voters on both the Pine Ridge and Rosebud Sioux Reservation.
Representative Jim Bradford said before the bill was introduced that he was writing to see what kind of legislation the new Senator would support that would affect Indian Country.
According to Jennifer Ring, Executive Director of the ACLUof the Dakotas, "HB 1176, if enacted, would create an undue hardship for voters who wish to file an absentee
ballot, especially Indian voters.
The ACLU last year filed a lawsuit on behalf of four Native Americans against state of South Dakota and local officials for failing to obtain Justice Department approval of more than 600 statutes and regulations that affect voting and elections in the state. The state settled the lawsuit, in favor of the plaintiffs. It was the largest voting rights lawsuit ever filed.
Further, she says that the bill seems to be in response to the purported accounts of "massive voter fraud" on or near Indian Reservations during the November 2002 General Election--voter fraud that even the South Dakota State Attorney General Mark Barnett says did not occur. Barnett is a Republican.
"This bill is clearly aimed at Indian country," she said. "And it seems directly related to the unsubstantiated claims some Republicans made after former Republican U.S. Representative John Thune's loss to incumbent Tim Johnson (D-SD) in the state's closely watched Senatorial election."
Johnson defeated Thune by less than 600 votes. Most analysts cite that Johnson won the election because of the support he had on Indian Reservations throughout the state.
"Anything that makes it hard for people to vote, makes it doubly hard for Native Americans to vote," Ring said.
"To get an absentee ballot, a voter would have to have access to a copy machine and/or the transportation to that copy machine or transportation to the office of a notary public," she said.
Most Indian voters live a great distance from either a copy machine or a notary public, and if they do have access to one or the other, there is still a cost involved, Ring said.
"It seems like just another hoop for Native American voters to overcome--all designed to limit the political power of a whole segment of South Dakota voters," Ring said.
Rep. Paul Valandra (D-Mission) too, feels HB 1176 might be aimed at making it harder for Native American voters to access the polls based on what he saw of the bill's sponsorship.
"It just seems like bad legislation. We intend to do what we can to defeat HB 1176. We don't want to do anything that will make it harder for anyone to vote. It just doesn't make good sense, he said.
Valandra represents District 27, a district that comprises most of both the Oglala and Rosebud Sioux Indian Reservations.
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