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The latest on the Key Bridge collapse, New York puts forth legislation to get clean energy projects on the grid and Wisconsin and other states join a federal summer food program to help feed kids across the country.

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Republicans float conspiracy theories on the collapse of Baltimore's Key Bridge, South Carolina's congressional elections will use a map ruled unconstitutional, and the Senate schedules an impeachment trial for Homeland Secretary Mayorkas.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

MT Voter Rights – Know Before you Head to the Polls

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Monday, November 5, 2012   

BILLINGS, Mont. - The Montana Conservation Voters Education Fund is warning that voter suppression is something to watch for in Big Sky Country on Election Day, Tuesday, Nov. 6, and that the best defense is knowing your voter rights. Montana voters are required to show identification, but a wide variety of documents will work, including a utility bill, a pay stub, government check or tribal identification.

Former Salish and Kootenai Tribe chair James Steele, Jr., says that with strong voter turnout expected in Indian Country he is encouraging people to speak up if they are challenged at their polling place.

"A lot of people don't want to confront election officials, particularly Native people, it's not in their nature to confront."

While some states require a state-issued photo ID, Montana does not. Steele says anyone encountering a challenge can contact the Voter Rights Hotline at 866-OUR-VOTE, or the Montana Secretary of State.

Steele says there have been reports of organizations training people in Montana to be "poll watchers" in order to intimidate voters, especially young voters, those who are low-income, and minorities. Even when voter discouragement isn't coordinated, it still happens when poll workers are uninformed, with Steele citing an incident a few years ago involving a Native voter.

"She was registered, everything else, and they told her she couldn't vote that day, which wasn't true. And so I had to go and bring that person back up there."

866OurVote.org is another option for Montanans who have voter rights questions, or need to report voting problems.

The Montana Secretary of State's website with election information is sos.mt.gov.




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