County sets Fort Belknap voting spots

In a letter to the Fort Belknap Indian Community Council Tuesday, the Blaine County Commissioners said they are “very interested” in establishing alternate election administrative offices on the reservation, though they would not be open for as many hours as the council had requested.

The commissioners’ letter, dated Jan. 19, was a response to a Jan 5 letter from the tribal council asking that such offices be open five days a week at two sites — on the Fort Belknap Agency and in Hays — during the 30 days preceding a state or federal election.

In their response, commissioners said they would be willing to staff such offices from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. every Wednesday and Thursday during that period.

Beyond those dates, the commissioners said, they would consider opening a second such office in Hays during alternate Fridays between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m.

Sandra Boardman, Blaine County clerk and recorder/assessor, said her office and the commissioners have yet to hear back from the council, nor were they available for comment before this story went to print.

The alternate election administrative offices are part of a settlement from a 2012 suit brought against Montana Secretary of State Linda McCulloch and Blaine, Bighorn and Rosebud counties by plaintiffs from the Fort Belknap reservation, Crow agency and Lame Deer in 2012.

In the suit, plaintiffs from the three reservations argue that those who live on reservations and wish to register later in the election season or drop off an absentee ballot must travel long distances to their county courthouses, often located in white populated areas. The plaintiffs argued that the long distances and expenses that those who live on reservations must travel to take advantage of those voter services has the unintentional offense of impeding their right to vote.

All sides reached a settlement in 2014 that stipulated that if any of those three reservations requests such voting offices, the respective county must, in consultation with the council, set up offices on the reservation that will be open 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. every Wednesday and Thursday in the 30 days before an election.

Under the agreement, the council is responsible for finding “a tribal office and room” that would be used as the alternate office, that the facility meet guidelines under the Americans with Disabilities Act, that the room be hard-wired for the Internet, that a lockable door be provided and that the tribe sign an indemnification agreement with the county.

No sites have yet been recommended, Boardman said, and Fort Belknap has until Jan 31 to meet these requirements in order for an alternate elections administrative office to be established.

During that time, the settlement said, election services would not be available at the County Courthouse on the days when those alternate election offices are open.

The council suggested in the letter that the Montana Secretary of State’s office could cover the cost of the purchase of ballot machines, which allow voting to take place at multiple locations simultaneously.

Such technology, they argued, would permit voters to submit absentee ballots and take advantage of late voter registration both at the county courthouse and on the reservation offices.

However, in their letter to the council, the commissioners said, “Blaine County has been informed that the state is financially unable to help with the purchase of these machines at this time.”