The US Department of Justice should step up efforts to protect the voting rights of Native Americans following a series of violations, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and US Congressman Jacky Rosen said in a letter published on Thursday.
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 04th October, 2018) The US Department of Justice should step up efforts to protect the voting rights of Native Americans following a series of violations, Senator Catherine Cortez Masto and US Congressman Jacky Rosen said in a letter published on Thursday.
"We write to request information on how the Department of Justice is working to safeguard and strengthen voting rights of Native Americans," the lawmakers said in their letter to Attorney General Jeff Sessions and Tribal Justice Director Tracy Troulou. "It is imperative that extra care is given to ensuring Native Americans can exercise their voting rights."
The letter comes on the heels of a lawsuit that was filed by the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe ("PLPT") and the Walker River Paiute Tribe against the Nevada Secretary of State and Washoe and Mineral Counties because they had to travel long distances to vote. The case resulted in a court order in favor of the tribes, ordering the state to set up early in-person voting locations and Election Day in-person voting locations for several tribes in the state of Nevada.
The lawmakers demanded that the Trump administration provide details about the Justice Department's efforts to lower barriers to voting by Native Americans in line with the court order, as well as outline what measures have been put in place in other parts of the country to ensure that other tribes in the United States do not face problems similar to those that arose in the Nevada case.
