Phil Drake

pdrake@greatfallstribune.com

HELENA — The head of the Blackfeet Tribal Council has asked the secretary of state to order Pondera County to have a satellite voting office in Heart Butte on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation during hours as proposed by the tribe, and said an offer proposed by the county was “an insult to the concept of equality.”

“Pondera County’s proposal for the 2016 General Election provides not a single minute of Election Day registration for our tribal members living in Heart Butte,” Harry Barnes, chairman of the Blackfeet Tribal Council, wrote Thursday to Secretary of State Linda McCulloch.

Barnes, who asked for a decision by Aug. 25, noted that to vote on Election Day, tribal members will have to drive more than 110 miles round trip to vote in Conrad

The county, citing poor voter turnout in Heart Butte, has proposed a plan that would offer a satellite office for 12 hours over two days during the general election while the tribe has proposed a plan for 125 hours over 14 days.

McCulloch was not immediately available for comment Friday.

However, the chair of the Pondera County Commissioners said the county did provide satellite voting for four days for the June 7 primary, but there was minimal participation from the community and that three people used the facility for late registration.

“It’s difficult to justify the time and effort when there’s minimal participation,” Commissioner Sandra J. Broesder said.

Barnes asks McCulloch to use her authority to force Pondera County to implement a plan submitted earlier this year that would provide 125 hours over 14 days, which is two-thirds of what they had originally sought.

In October, she issued a directive for all Montana counties with American Indian reservations to work with tribal governments to establish satellite election offices to increase access to voting and registration if required under the Federal Voting Rights Act.

The directive stemmed from a 2012 Wandering Medicine lawsuit, when plaintiffs from the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap Indian reservations sued McCulloch and the elections offices in Blaine, Rosebud and Big Horn counties, arguing Indians did not have the same voting opportunities.

In the June primary, 13 early voting offices were established on Montana’s American Indian reservations for the June 7 primary election.

Barnes said discussions between Pondera County, the tribe and Indian voting activists had ceased and that commissioners outlined a proposal in an Aug. 10 that was unacceptable and called it “an insult to the concept of equality.”

The commissioners said in the Aug. 10 letter the office was staffed for four days, for six hours per day during the late registration period and three people used the facility for late registration. There were four others who stopped by, but did not vote.

For the Nov. 8 general election, the commissioners propose having the satellite office open 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 18 and Nov. 3.

They said the costs of the office for June 7 primary was about $832, not counting the costs of the two employees for 64 hours.

They also stated the voter turnout for the precinct was 43 percent of the eligible voters and there are 388 registered voters in the precinct, with the majority on the reservation.

And officials said there were other problems.

In that letter, the commissioners noted during the June 7 primary, there was no internet access at the facility, which was to be supplied by the tribe, but that county workers were able to handle the late registrations. They also said there was confusion on accessing the building the first day – the doors could not close without locking and had to be left open throughout the day.

Broesder said it was determined there were 82 eligible voters not yet registered in the precinct, but the interest during the June 7 primary was low.

“The people who came in expressed an interest in going to their regular polling place,” she said.

Bret Healy, an Indian voting activist with Four Directions, a South Dakota-based Indian voting rights organization, said Pondera County did not act in good faith when the discussions ceased.

“Pondera County did not deal in good faith and the reverse is not true,” he said, adding the county should have continued to work with the tribal business council.

Indian voting rights activist Tom Rodgers, who, among others, has represented the tribe in negotiations with counties, said he was angry over the latest developments.

“The non-native ancestors of Pondera County immorally took the Blackfeet land and they immorally took the Blackfeet water,” he said. “Now they want to take the Blackfeet votes. These people are sheeple to me when it comes to voting rights. I am so very tired of two-legged sheep in Montana.”