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WASHINGTON – The Supreme Court on Tuesday authorized North Dakota to enforce a voter identification law for the November mid-term election, denying a petition claiming that the measure would hurt Native Americans who are less likely to live at standardized addresses or to have the identity cards required by the status.
The Amerindians are a reliable Democratic group, which makes Tuesday's order bad news for Senator Heidi Heitkamp, a Democrat who struggles to resist a challenge from Republican Representative Kevin Cramer in the deep state.
In a sparsely populated state, "it may be that a few hundred votes count," said Robert Wood, a professor of political science at the University of North Dakota.
The June North Dakota primaries were arranged under a federal court order in April requiring state officials to accept ballots, even if the voter ID card did not include the ballots. a mailing address, such as a post office box, rather than a residential address. The court found that Native Americans are homeless and are more likely to live on reserves or in rural areas where street addresses are not used.
However, at the end of last month, the eighth appeals court of the American circuit in St. Louis left most of the law in force before the general election.
"Even assuming that some communities lack residential street addresses, this does not warrant a state-wide injunction" from a law requiring "identification with" a residential street address of the vast majority of residents who have residential street addresses, "said the court of appeal.
Amerindian voters who lodged a complaint have asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the court order, saying that some voters who would vote in June could assume that the same rules would be in effect in November and would then be rejected on polling day.
Judge Ruth Bader Ginsburg, dissenting, joins Judge Elena Kagan. She noted the District Court's finding that "70,000 North Dakota residents, almost 20% of the turnout rate for a regular quadrennial election, do not have a valid identity card" while approximately 18,000 residents of North Dakota do not have sufficient additional documentation to allow them to vote without a vote. qualification identifier. "
Although the state has put in place procedures to obtain another identity card, Mr. Wood said Tuesday's decision required Senator Heitkamp's campaign volunteers to "look for people and protect their identity." help them get an assigned address. "
The most recent judge, Brett Kavanaugh, did not participate in the decision.
Write to Jess Bravin at [email protected]
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