Tribal IDs cleared for use at poll sites

By Matt McKinney Star Tribune

State officials will allow American Indians to use tribal identification cards to register for voting on election day under a consent decree reached Monday in federal court. State law had prohibited the use of the cards last year if the Indians did not live on a reservation or if the card did not include a home address.

The decree, reached in the chambers of Minnesota federal court chief judge James Rosenbaum, resolves a lawsuit filed in federal district court last year against Minnesota Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer.

The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota, the National Congress of American Indians, Bonnie Dorr-Charwood, a member of the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe and Richard Smith and Tracy Martineau, members of the Fond du Lac band of Lake Superior Chippewa.

Although state law allowed other forms of ID without an address as long as a current utility bill was provided, they argued, Indians were not allowed to identify themselves at polls using a tribal identification card without a home address and a utility bill. They now may do just that, the consent decree says.

The state law violated the federal Help America Vote Act of 2002 and the 14th Amendment, they argued.