In June 2015, the ACRU filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Justice Department regarding actions to force states to hand jurisdiction of polling places over to Native American tribal authorities.
The request to the DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights, the Office of Legal Policy, and the Office of Legislative Affairs seeks copies of documents, letters, e-mails and other communications between Justice officials and several liberal pressure groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) pertaining to a court case, Poor Bear, et al., v. County of Jackson (South Dakota) and to the “Tribal Equal Access to Voting Act of 2015.”
“Attorney General Loretta Lynch has sent a draft of a bill to Congress that would strip state and local election officials of constitutionally assigned election powers and reassign them to tribal governments,” said ACRU Chairman and CEO Susan A. Carleson in a press release. “It could apply nationwide, affecting elections in the Dakotas, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Montana.”
Read FOIA letter. (PDF – 2.5 MB)
