A voter ID law and manipulated legislative boundaries are among the ways Native Americans' votes are diluted in the Dakotas, a U.S. House panel was told on Tuesday.

Tribal leaders and voting organization representatives described problems faced in North Dakota and South Dakota during a field hearing held by the U.S. House Elections Subcommittee, which is holding seven hearings around the country as it compiles a report for Congress on the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

The subcommittee decided to visit the Dakotas because North Dakota adopted a voter identification law that disproportionately burdens Native Americans and South Dakota "has had more litigation over voting rights violations than any other state in Indian Country," said U.S. Rep. Marcia Fudge, D-Ohio.

But these issues aren't isolated to North Dakota and South Dakota — Native Americans across the country face discriminatory laws and burdens that keeps them from voting, said Jacqueline De Leon, an attorney for the Native American Rights Fund, who testified at the hearing on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation.

Lawmakers urged to reach out

Standing Rock Tribal Councilman Charles Walker asked the U.S. House members to educate themselves about Native Americans because it was evident that there was a lack of understanding about Native Americans during the hearing. He also asked them to ensure that the hearing doesn't become only "a check in the box" to say that they visited the reservation.

"Reach out to all the tribal nations," Walker said. "Get to know what's going on day to day on our nations because we didn't do this to ourselves obviously."

Many of the lawsuits in South Dakota have revolved around the issue of drawing districts for local and state governments that water down the voting power of Native Americans. The major case among those lawsuits began in 2001, when the American Civil Liberties Union filed a lawsuit on behalf of four Native Americans alleging that the South Dakota Legislature's redistricting packed Native Americans into a single legislative district. The court ruled that the state violated the Voting Rights Act by drafting a redistricting plan that dilutes the voting power of Native Americans.

Concerns about the 2020 census, on which legislative redistricting will be based in the two states, were raised several times during the hearing because Native Americans are typically under-counted in the census. Several attempts to create a nine-member independent redistricting commission have been defeated in South Dakota in recent years.

North Dakota Rep. Ruth Buffalo, D-Fargo, pointed out that legislative boundaries in her state are drawn to ensure that no legislative district has a Native American majority. The result is that she and a state senator are the only Native Americans among 141 legislators this year. Lack of Native American representation at the state level leads to laws that disparage Native Americans, she said.

U.S. Rep. G. K. Butterfield, D-N.C., agreed that there's a disparity between the number of Native Americans and Native American legislators in North Dakota, and questioned whether tribes are required to be consulted when state legislative boundaries are drawn. When asked if she believed North Dakota's legislative boundaries are gerrymandered, Buffalo replied, "Most definitely."

Obstacles to voting

North Dakota tribal leaders described the negative impact the state's voter identification law had on their tribe, saying they paid thousands of dollars to provide free IDs to their members at the last minute before the November election last year.

U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, pointed out that turnout was higher in counties on reservations in 2018 with the voter ID law than it was for the 2014 midterm election. However, Fudge replied, "Just because your results are better than some might have expected due to your strength and your fortitude, it still doesn't make it right."

North Dakota tribal leaders also described how there are so few polling locations set up near or on reservations that some tribal members have to travel 80 to 100 miles to vote, or sometimes they aren't notified that their polling location changed and after traveling that distance, they're told they're not in the right polling location.

OJ Semans Sr., co-executive director of Four Directions in Mission, S.D., said his group has had success with getting South Dakota to open satellite offices near reservations where Native Americans can vote early. He asked the subcommittee to use more Help America Vote Act dollars to fund more satellite offices.

"If there's five ways to vote, don't give Native Americans three ways and say it's equal," Semans said.