Affidavit allowed for North Dakota voters lacking ID

BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) – A federal judge in North Dakota has ruled that the state must let voters without identification cast a ballot by filing an affidavit.

U.S. District Judge Daniel Hovland issued the order Tuesday. The Bismarck-based judge in August blocked the state’s voter identification law after it was challenged by a group of Native Americans.

The lawsuit was filed in January by seven members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa. They alleged that the state’s voter identification requirements “disproportionately burden and disenfranchise Native Americans.”

Prior to 2013, a voter could sign an affidavit attesting to his or her eligibility to vote in the precinct but the state Legislature removed that provision.