Blaine County offers 2-day offices for Fort Belknap voting

GREAT FALLS, Mont. (AP) – The Blaine County commissioners have proposed opening a satellite voting office for two days a week before the 2016 election.

A settlement in a 2012 federal lawsuit won the right to open satellite offices on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap reservations.

The Great Falls Tribune reports that the commissioners responded Tuesday to a Jan. 5 letter from the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council with the proposal. The proposal would move Blaine County’s election office to a tribal building on Wednesdays and Thursdays during the 30-day voting period before each state and federal election.

Fort Belknap President Mark Azure was not available for comment.

A consultant with the Indian voting rights organization criticized the proposal, calling it a “two-fifths compromise” to limit Native Americans’ voting rights.

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Information from: Great Falls Tribune, http://www.greatfallstribune.com