Fort Belknap Tribes ask county for voting offices on reservation


Mark Wandering Medicine, a member of the Northern Cheyenne Tribe in Montana. was the lead plaintiff in the Wandering Medicine voting rights lawsuit. Photo from National Commission on Voting Rights

The Fort Belknap Indian Community is asking Blaine County, Montana, to open a satellite voting office on the reservation in order to comply with a settlement in a voting rights case.

The tribe wants the office to be staffed five days a week ahead of the primary and general elections this year, The Great Falls Tribune reported. President Mark Azure requested services in two different places on the reservation.

But the county can't meet the request, due to costs and lack of staffing, the paper reported. The county is instead proposing to open an office two days a week at one location for the primary and general elections. The county is also offering another office for an early voting period, but only on every other Friday, the paper said.

The state agreed to establish satellite offices as part of a settlement in Wandering Medicine v. McCulloch. Blaine County is part of the settlement but has so far failed to provide services to Fort Belknap, with officials at one point blaming the tribe for making a request four days late.

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Blaine County offers 2-day a week satellite offices to Fort Belknap (The Great Falls Tribune 1/21)

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