Voting Rights In Indian Country
The ACLU has released a report entitled Voting Rights in Indian Country: A Special Report of the Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union
This report highlights the litigation the Voting Rights Project of the American Civil Liberties Union brought, or participated in, on behalf of American Indians in five western states— Colorado, Montana, Nebraska, South Dakota, and Wyoming.
The litigation challenged a variety of discriminatory election practices, including: at large elections; redistricting plans that diluted Indian voting strength; the failure to comply with one person, one vote; unfounded allegations of election fraud on Indian reservations; discriminatory voter registration procedures; onerous identification requirements for voting; the lack of minority language assistance in voting; and the refusal to comply with the preclearance provisions of Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.
The report gives an overview of the volatile and often contradictory federal policy toward Indians, from treating them as independent nations, to placing them on reservations, to assimilating them and allotting their lands to whites, to giving them rights of U.S. citizenship, to terminating the reservations and tribal governments, and in more recent times to protecting the tribal system and giving Indians maximum opportunities for self-development and self-determination.
Contents:
- Introduction and Sumary
- One Person, One Vote
- The Right to Vote
- The Political Landscape Today
- 2006 Renewal of the Voting Rights Act
- Enforcing the Law: Voting Rights Act Section
- Enforcing Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act
- Diluting Voting Strength through Redistricting
- Permited to Vote Now: Language Protection for Indian Voters
- Felon Disfranchisement & Indian Voters
- Election Day Discrimination
- Conclusion
