MINOT — The recently revised legislative district map is about to be challenged in federal court.
The Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa, Belcourt, and the Spirit Lake Tribe, Devils Lake, maintain the new district boundaries for selecting representatives to the state capitol violates the Voting Rights Act. They are seeking remedy through a federal lawsuit filed earlier this month utilizing the offices of the Native American Rights Fund in Boulder, Colorado.
New legislative district boundaries were approved during a recent special session of the State Legislature. Redistricting occurs every 10 years following the census. The realignment is necessary to ensure that legislative voting districts represent an equal number of voters, at least as closely as possible.
The issue of contention for Turtle Mountain and Spirit Lake centers around District 9, where legislators approved dividing the district into two sub-districts, 9A and 9B. 9A contains the Turtle Mountain Reservation with the major population centers of Belcourt and Rolette. 9B is primarily to the east of 9A. It includes the communities of St. John, Rolla, and Cavalier, all of which are outside the boundary of the Turtle Mountain Reservation.
Each district sends two representatives and one senator to the State Legislature in Bismarck. While voters in sub-districts 9A and 9B will cast ballots for the lone senatorial seat, voting for the two representatives will be split with one representative elected in each sub-district.
District 15, which contains the Spirit Lake Reservation, continues to be one voting district. At the recent special session of the legislature a proposal to link the Spirit Lake and Turtle Mountain Reservations into a single voting district was rejected in committee.
"It was the basic definition of gerrymandering.” Rep. Terry Jones, R-Dis. 4, New Town
“They were trying to do something we had already rejected,” said Rep. Terry Jones, R-Dis. 4, New Town. “They are wanting to create a corridor to connect the two tribes to become a sub-district. It was the basic definition of gerrymandering.”
Rep. Marvin Nelson, D-Dis. 9, Rolla, points out that the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa didn’t ask for the current sub-district alignment but noted the combined request of the tribes during the special session.
“There was no good reason not to give the tribes what they wanted.”Rep. Marvin Nelson, D-Dis. 9, Rolla
“There was no good reason not to give the tribes what they wanted,” said Nelson. “It was a good plan put forward by the tribe. It was reasonable. When it came to redistricting, I didn’t understand why we couldn’t have let them have it and avoided this lawsuit.”
District 4, which contains the Mandan-Hidatsa-Arikara Nation at New Town, has also been divided into sub-districts, 4A and 4B. Jones will be running for election again, this time in sub-district 4A rather than the old District 4. Jones says the creating of sub-districts promotes divisiveness.
“If these sub-districts are done this way, without following the rule of law, it further divides the country.”Rep. Jones
“I’m really concerned about it. There’s way too much division in this country right now,” remarked Jones. “I don’t like the idea of divisions. If these sub-districts are done this way, without following the rule of law, it further divides the country. It’s just not right in my opinion and should be stopped.”
Rep. Larry Bellew, R-Dis. 38, Minot, a member of the redistricting committee, told The Dakotan prior to the special session that he was opposed to the sub-district idea.
“They were made up specifically because of the American Indians and, to me, that is racially motivated.”Rep. Larry Bellew, R-Dis. 38, Minot
“The sub-districts are not good for the districts or the state overall,” said Bellew. “They were made up specifically because of the American Indians and, to me, that is racially motivated.”
The lawsuit filed by Turtle Mountain and Spirit Lake pursues a revision of the new legislative district map, including the claim that those tribal members residing outside sub-districts centered on reservation land have less voting power than those residing within reservation sub-districts.
“It’s really a mess,” said Nelson when asked about the uncertainty of issues involving District 9. “We have to reorganize, endorse candidates, and don’t know where we are going to be or not.”
It is not yet clear when the lawsuit filed by the combined tribes will be heard in federal court.
