December 28, 2017 | West Fargo Pioneer
By John Hageman
A federal judge has allowed several members of the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa to amend their complaint challenging North Dakota’s newest voter identification law.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Charles Miller granted the plaintiffs’ motion to file an amended complaint Friday, Dec. 22. Initially included in their motion earlier this month, the new complaint was filed in U.S. District Court in North Dakota Wednesday, Dec. 27.
The complaint argues that House Bill 1369, passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature and signed by Gov. Doug Burgum in April, “preserved strict voter ID requirements that restricted access to voting and excluded a ‘fail-safe’ mechanism.” . . .
Secretary of State Al Jaeger, the state’s chief elections official and the sole defendant listed in the lawsuit, has until Jan. 31 to respond to the amended complaint.
