Feds, SD county reach voting agreement

SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) – The federal Justice Department says it has reached an agreement with South Dakota's Shannon County to help American Indian voters.

The agreement requires the county to provide election materials and information in Lakota for voters who speak that language, and to have trained bilingual election officials at polling sites.

The agreement also ensures compliance with various other provisions of the Help America Vote Act, which is aimed at helping minority voters in jurisdictions determined by the Census Bureau to have a substantial population of minority-language residents.

Shannon County includes much of the Pine Ridge Sioux Indian Reservation. Four of the five county commissioners are members of the Oglala Sioux Tribe.