BISMARCK, ND — The North Dakota Secretary of State’s Office is asking a judge to dismiss a voting rights case brought by two tribes accusing the state of gerrymandering.
State lawyers argued before the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals that the Spirit Lake Nation and the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa don’t have the authority to bring the suit. The tribes argue that a ruling in favor of the state would take away voters’ ability to challenge violations of the Voting Rights Act. Additionally, the tribes accuse the state of racial gerrymandering because of a redistricting plan that puts them in the same district.
“Instead of complying with the law and protecting the freedom to vote in their state, North Dakota has gone so far as to challenge a citizen’s right to sue under the Voting Rights Act when their rights are violated,” Jacqueline De León, senior attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, said in a statement to the North Dakota Monitor.
The case began after the release of a legislative redistricting plan created with data from the 2020 Census, which placed the Turtle Mountain and Spirit Lake reservations in the new district. The reservations argue the updated map disenfranchises Native American voters in North Dakota.
