December 06, 2022
South Dakota's Lyman County agreed to replace a member of its Board of Commissioners with a Lower Brule Sioux Tribe member in a Tuesday consent decree, ending the tribe's claims that county officials disenfranchised Native American voters by dragging out a redistricting plan.
November 18, 2022
A lawsuit accusing a South Dakota county of disenfranchising Native American voters can move forward despite county officials' assertion that the 2022 elections earlier this month render the case moot, a federal judge ruled Wednesday.
November 01, 2022
County officials in South Dakota maintain that they should not have to defend against a lawsuit claiming that their electoral map discriminates against Native American voters, saying the litigation is now moot because they created a majority-Native district that takes effect in 2024.
October 18, 2022
A tribe in South Dakota says its lawsuit challenging a county electoral map for diluting Native votes still presents a live question, even after a federal judge ordered local officials to draw new districts, arguing that tossing the case could let the county delay that relief.
September 27, 2022
A South Dakota county has urged a federal judge to end a suit claiming the county violated the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe's voting rights, saying there's nothing more the judge can do after greenlighting the county's revised voting map.
September 06, 2022
A federal judge in South Dakota will let county officials use an electoral map this November that he says likely violates the Voting Rights Act by diluting Native American votes, begrudgingly accepting the county's plan to resolve that issue in two years as a sufficient form of relief.
August 26, 2022
A federal judge told a South Dakota county and a Native American tribe they have until Monday to come back with answers to six questions he has in an ongoing suit alleging Lyman County's electoral map violates the federal Voting Rights Act.
August 22, 2022
A South Dakota county told to revise its electoral map to protect Native American voting rights is fighting back, saying immediate action is unnecessary because a proposed change would let the Lower Brule Sioux Tribe elect its preferred candidates within two years.
August 18, 2022
County officials in South Dakota cannot hold up a federal judge's order instructing them to use new election rules that don't disadvantage Native voters, the judge said Wednesday, chiding the county for slow-walking a redistricting plan and urging it to prepare revisions by next week.
August 12, 2022
A South Dakota county must change its current voting system after a federal judge ruled that county officials likely violated the Voting Rights Act by diluting Native Americans' voting and that a new plan must be found, even with elections approaching in November.