State settles on Rosebud Sioux Tribe lawsuit

RAPID CITY—Some state agencies, such as driver’s licenses and public assistance, will now have new ways to assist folks in registering to vote in South Dakota, as a federal agreement set down by a federal judge on September 6, would help bring the state in line with the National Voter Registration Act.

The Act, which would have the state establish a statewide coordinator, voter registration training and an update to registration forms and procedures, is earmarked to be in place for the next three years and was the culmination of a legal issue. Rosebud Sioux Tribe et. al. v Barnett, was put out in 2020 and included the Oglala Sioux Tribe, sued several state agencies under the supervision of Secretary of State Steve Barnett, claiming his office had failed to provide the needed training, guidance and monitoring of voter registration services, especially in Native American communities.

In talking to Samantha Kelty, a staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, stated “It’s pretty historic. It’s really comprehensive, detailed settlement agreement. There’s really no way the state can continue to violate the law under this agreement,” she stated, in a Forum release dated on Sept 7. “These are all the best practices that states across the country had been using for years to ensure compliance and South Dakota was not.”

Within the settlement, specific responsibilities for the Secretary of State’s office is put in place, to make sure those compliances are met, and the accuracy in voter registration services are handled by state agencies, as well requiring a written report of any “issues resulting in an individual not being registered to vote or experiencing a delay in registering to vote.”

The point of the case regarded Kimberly Dillon, who claimed she was unable to vote in the 2020 presidential election, was due to her form she submitted to a state employee was misplaced. Another part of the settlement requires revamped registration services and training at “issue sites,” which are established as locations without the driver’s license office, but has contracts with another government agency to provide similar services, such as identification services.

Sites like these are common in rural areas and despite federal law requiring such agencies to provide registration services, the plaintiffs testified that many of these sites were ill-trained in providing these services if at all.

The National Voter Registration Act, known as the Motor Voter Law was passed back in 1993, and applies to state motor vehicle agencies requiring the inclusion of a voter registration form as part of the application for a driver’s license. Likewise any state agency that administered federal or state public assistance programs would qualify like Medicaid or nutrition programs.

In May of this year the federal district court sided with the plaintiffs on several allegations in the lawsuit and a joint statement by the plaintiffs in the case stressed that the decision has implications that go beyond simply helping Native American voters.

“This settlement brings victory to Native people seeing to register to vote in South Dakota, and to all voters who support fail US elections this year and in the future,” Lakota People’s Law Project Co-Director Chase Iron Eyes wrote in the statement.

(Contact Joseph Budd at sales2@nativesunnews.today)

 

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