2007-05-23 18:39:40 -

BILLINGS, Mont., May 23 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today Citizens Equal Rights Alliance (CERA), Montana Citizens Rights Alliance (MCRA), and voters in Big Horn County filed a Complaint for injunctive relief in the United States District Court in the District of Montana located in Billings. The Complaint asks the Court to require the Secretary of State to assert enforceable jurisdiction over all polling precincts within exterior boundaries of Indian reservations. Everyone should be voting under one set of rules during an election, rather than allowing voting under no enforceable rules applicable

to the voting places on tribal reservations, the suit claims.

The Complaint is necessary in light of repeated reports of alleged voter fraud to the Secretary of State and the Office of William Mercer, U.S. Attorney for the District of Montana. The Complaint is a response to the absence of any investigation of allegations and affidavits attesting to election improprieties and alleged voting violations within the Crow Indian Reservation, before and during the November 7th 2006 election.

The purpose of the Complaint is to end unlawful voting practices and procedures in Big Horn County, Montana in which election officials failed to follow the law on November 7, 2006. The lack of uniformity enabled election violations because election standards were not enforced at polling precincts located within the Crow Indian Reservation.

The Complaint is clear and simple. The Secretary of State claims to lack enforcement authority over American Indian voters and polling precincts operated by tribal members within the boundaries of Indian reservations. If that is true, the Secretary of State should never allow voting to take place anywhere where the applicable law cannot be enforced. There are more than 75 polling precincts located within Indian reservations in the State. The Secretary of State acted as if tribal governments and tribal members are not subject to State election laws within the Crow and other Indian reservations. Tribal members are citizens of the state in which they reside. However, tribal governments and tribal members are not subject to State laws within the Crow and other Indian Reservations, currently including election law.

This case is not about internal tribal government elections. It is specific to federal, state and county elections such as the November 7, 2006 Senate race between Conrad Burns and John Tester, and various state and county offices.

Examples of Montana State election law violations include: unsecured ballot boxes all day at polling precincts 5 and 7; and sworn county tribal member election officials ordering a non-tribal poll watcher to vacate the precincts before the processing of the ballots on November 7th. Additional unfair practices include a federally funded tribal government acting as a defacto political party by widely advertising a tribal legislative resolution endorsing a full slate of tribal member candidates for offices in Big Horn County; large tribal political gatherings and feasts promoting tribal candidates only; reports of double-voting with duplicate tribal identification cards.

CERA has consistently urged that tribal governments be held accountable for financial disclosure of election contributions under Campaign Finance Reform, but a tribal loophole continues that allows a different standard, or no disclosure standards applied to tribal contributions, as opposed to all other financial contributors in America.

When CERA was contacted about the disturbing voting conduct in Big Horn County in November 2006, we discovered a second major flaw-that actual voting conduct at polling precincts within the Crow and likely many other Indian reservations is also an unaccountable, different standard than for all other voters in federal, state, and county elections.

Please note: As the case progresses, all associated documents, reports and news will be posted on the CERA national website: http://www.citizensalliance.org/

Source: Citizens Equal Rights Alliance