Indian voting rights advocates have been fighting for years to get early-voting satellite stations to give our Lakota neighbors equal ballot access. Representative Shawn Bordeaux (D-26A/Mission) says South Dakota still isn’t giving Indian voters the same access to early voting that white folks get:
Representative Shawn Bordeaux discovered firsthand that there were still problems in Mission.
“And I asked him why it is that we’re only open for six hours on Tuesday and Thursday to vote, whereas everybody else is Monday through Friday from nine to five?” said Bordeaux.
And when he arrived to vote, he said the office had closed early.
“And she cut out at 2:30 pm, and that was disappointing to me,” said Bordeaux.
Reports of a closed gate in front of the early voting building come from the Pine Ridge Reservation, where the word is spreading to request for the gate to be opened, and they’ll let you in [Beth Warden, “Voters on South Dakota Reservations Report Problems, Despite Recent Lawsuit,” KSFY, 2022.10.23].
According to Warden, Rep. Bordeaux says the Mission satellite voting station has now expanded operations to five days a week. But Indians in South Dakota still have to make noise to get the same opportunity to vote that most South Dakotans take for granted.
Of Course…it’s the same old, same old. It’s been going on since 1924.
Won’t voting access on the rez be even worse if Monae Johnson gets elected? That happened in Montana after a Trumper became SOS.
Get with the program, will ‘ya South Dakota majority party? Indian Votes Matter! It’s your white fear, arrogance, and ignorance that I’m voting against.
– All my voting today was done while sitting at my desk with the help of a trusted, anonymous search engine. Every registered voter here gets a mail in ballot without asking.
– The ballot’s return envelope has two individual bar codes and two individual QR codes unique to each voter but there’re no identifying marks anywhere on the ballot itself. Each voter must sign and date the outside of their ballot envelope. Your signature is electronically matched against the master signature from your voter registration card. Impossible to vote twice, undetected unless you attempt signature fraud on someone else’s ballot. A couple out of three million get caught each cycle for trying. Mostly Republicans, though.
– It’s illegal to gather more than ten ballots for delivery to a ballot drop off or mailbox. Only one ballot allowed in any one envelope. Otherwise, all ballots in the envelope will be voided.
– Then, I mailed my ballot back to my county clerk and recorder. The post office, county clerk’s office, and election security offices will all email me and text me (upon my request) when they’ve received my ballot and when it is opened and sent to be counted. There are also ballot drop boxes, curbside ballot pickup, and voting in person on November 08 for those who choose to.
– Easy Peasy, all you “white fear” MAGA conspiracy kooks! – Deny until You Die! – Mail in voting is honest and proven to favor neither political party.
Who is running these voting stations in Mission? Ms. Monae?
It’s time for Mr. Bordeaux to pony up for some more free food at the voting stations.
If AG Vargo believes the process for selecting nominees for my home state’s top cop is broken why is anyone registered in South Dakota’s minority party when primaries cost so much?