Why make this so hard?

That is the question we ask Secretary of State Jason Gant and members of the South Dakota Board of Elections who have refused to endorse a plan to expand early voting satellite centers in three predominantly Native American communities.

The request by Four Directions Inc., a voting advocacy group, would have allowed voting centers in Wanblee, Eagle Butte and Fort Thompson.

Each of those towns has more population than its respective county seat and each is a distance from the county courthouses where early voting can occur. Money for the extra centers would come from a federal program, authorized under the Help America Vote Act. The funding was set up after the 2000 presidential election to help modernize voting procedures and administration.