skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Friday, July 26, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Arson attacks paralyze French high-speed rail network hours before start of Olympics, the Obamas endorse Harris for President; A NY county creates facial recognition, privacy protections; Art breathes new life into pollution-ravaged MI community; 34 Years of the ADA.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Harris meets with Israeli PM Netanyahu and calls for a ceasefire. MI Rep. Rashida Tlaib faces backlash for a protest during Netanyahu's speech. And VA Sen. Mark Warner advocates for student debt relief.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

There's a gap between how rural and urban folks feel about the economy, Colorado's 'Rural is Rad' aims to connect outdoor businesses, more than a dozen of Maine's infrastructure sites face repeated flooding, and chocolate chip cookies rock August.

MT Election Laws That Created Barriers for Native Americans Struck Down

play audio
Play

Monday, October 10, 2022   

A Montana District Court has struck down three election laws which would have created voting barriers weeks before the midterm election.

Two of the laws presented especially high hurdles to Native Americans in the state, including a law to eliminate Election-Day voter registration and another banning third-party ballot collection.

Jacqueline De León, staff attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, which represented plaintiffs in this case, said Judge Michael Moses found evidence the Legislature intentionally discriminated against people who rely on Election-Day registration, such as Indigenous communities and students.

"It's pretty disturbing that the Legislature went ahead and passed these laws despite the known impacts on Native Americans," De León asserted.

The lawsuit was brought by Western Native Voice and tribes in Montana, including the Blackfeet Nation and Northern Cheyenne Tribe. The third law struck down in the decision would have made it harder for students to register to vote by requiring them to use another form of identification in addition to their student ID.

De León said a court struck down a nearly identical ballot collection law in 2020 in Montana, noting many tribes do not have reliable residential mail delivery.

"They've really come to rely on organizations that go out in vehicles that can access the poor roads and can pay for gas and can travel significant distances to circumvent poor mail service to pick up ballots for Native Americans," De León explained.

De León added it is important to note the laws are discriminatory and conversely, Native Americans are not asking for extra accommodations.

"They're not asking for more than what other Montanans are entitled to," De León contended. "What they're asking for is for equal access and in the face of it being unequal, they're asking that the tools that they use to overcome those inequalities not be targeted and taken away."


get more stories like this via email
more stories
According to the Tax Policy Center, for higher-income earners, sales taxes consume a lower share of their income than for other households. (Vitalii Vodolazskyi/Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

As Nebraska state lawmakers convene for a special session on property tax reform called by Gov. Jim Pillen, groups are weighing in on the details …


play sound

Traveling around rural Minnesota can be difficult but in more than half the state, nonprofit transit systems are helping people get where they need …

Social Issues

play sound

Student loan forgiveness took center stage on Thursday at the American Federation of Teachers conference. The Biden administration has canceled more …


Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., has introduced legislation to codify the Chevron Deference into law. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Recent Supreme Court rulings on air pollution are affecting Virginia and the nation. Climate advocates said the court overstepped its bounds in …

Health and Wellness

play sound

World Hepatitis Day is this Sunday, and for the Oregon Health Authority, it's an opportunity to promote its plan to eliminate hepatitis across the …

The Gender Shades project revealed facial recognition performed poorest for darker-skinned women, and performed best for lighter-skinned men. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Columbia County, New York, is implementing new facial recognition and privacy policies, following new upgrades to the county's surveillance cameras…

Health and Wellness

play sound

New York disability-rights advocates are celebrating the 34th anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act. The 1990 …

Social Issues

play sound

As summer winds down and North Carolina students prepare to return to school, the focus shifts to the urgent need for better public education funding…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021