Republican Efforts to Suppress Native American Vote Get National Attention

The Nation explains how GOP plays politics with the right to vote in North Dakota and attempted to disenfranchise thousands

(BISMARCK, ND) – The North Dakota GOP won’t be able to get away with it this time. A new article in The Nation shines a light on their efforts disenfranchise thousands of Native American voters through an onerous – and unconstitutional – voter ID law.

State Representative Dan Ruby flat out stated that these actions were an attempt to stifle turnout after Senator Heitkamp’s 2012 victory, not preserve the integrity of North Dakota’s elections:

The prospect of losing an election in a state Republicans otherwise dominated—they held every statewide office and both legislative chambers—served as a wake-up call. “I think that shined a light on it in a way that it was decided that now we should fix the issue,” Ruby told me.

“North Dakotans will not stand for their fundamental rights being taken away because of partisan politics,” said Representative Joshua Boschee (District 44), the Democratic-NPL candidate for Secretary of State. “Republicans knew exactly the people their voter ID law would disenfranchise, but they went ahead and passed it anyway. We need leadership in the Legislature and the Secretary of State’s office who will work to expand access to the ballot box so our communities can have their voices heard from Bismarck to Washington, DC.”

On Monday, U.S. District Court Judge Daniel Hovland rejected an appeal from the State to delay the earlier ruling that struck the residential address requirement from voter ID law.