Your Legal Right To Vote Is Being Violated

Posted: October 28, 2002 - 9:00am EST
by: David Melmer / Indian Country Today

WASHINGTON, D.C. - As people take a second look at the furor over voting fraud in South Dakota, Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D. accused Republicans of attempting to suppress voting by American Indians.

One person has been arrested for turning in invalid voter registration cards and another was fired as a contract employee for the Democratic Party for turning in invalid absentee ballot applications. The arrested person was not associated with either political party.

Accounts vary as to how large or how widespread the alleged voter fraud is in South Dakota, but most of the investigation done by the FBI is on or near counties where Indian reservations are located.

The state Republican Party Chairman Joe Rosenthal has labeled the two known criminal cases as massive voter fraud. The state’s Republican Attorney General, Mark Barnett said there was no massive voter fraud. Some 400 registration cards and absentee ballot applications were under scrutiny. The state, according to county auditors, has in excess of 16,700 new registered voters, more than during any other election.

Republican Secretary of State Joyce Hazeltine said that the county auditors performed their duties properly and the system is intact. She added that so far indications were that the election was not at risk, and she also implied that there was no massive voter fraud.

Senator Tim Johnson, D-S.D. and Rep. John Thune, R-S.D. are deadlocked for Johnson’s senate seat. Democrats allege that Republicans have fed the media misleading information concerning the extent of the alleged voter fraud on and near Indian reservations.

"In my state of South Dakota, we are now seeing a concerted Republican effort to make allegations and launch initiatives intended to suppress Native American voting. These efforts appear to be motivated more by partisan politics than a concern with clean elections," Daschle said.

At some locations where Senator Johnson has appeared for campaign meetings protestors carried signs that said, "Voter Fraud is a Felony."

Some of the hype has been traced to Sioux Falls attorney John Lauck who works for the Thune campaign. Lauck is listed as chairman of the Lawyers for Thune campaign. He has a biography on the Republican National Lawyers Association website. Public records have shown that Lauck was paid travel money by the Republican Party to scour the offices of the County Auditors to find questionable American Indian registration cards and applications and then distribute them to the news media.

Some broadcast media were provided with large stacks of material indicating fraud on reservations. The information came from Lauck. One Sioux Falls television station apologized for broadcasting unverifiable information and pulled a lead reporter off the fraud story. Another television anchor who also presented the same information, Shelley Keohane, is Lauck’s roommate, according to public record.

Editorials across South Dakota have tried to put some perspective on the voter fraud allegations. An editor of the Tea and Harrisburg Spokesman wrote: "As everyone knows, FBI agents are not the most beloved people on the reservations. Now, the FBI, DCI and CNN will be swarming the place until after Election Day. There will be poll watchers at every precinct. There will be voter signatures being checked and double-checked.

"The last place a mostly peace-loving people already paranoid of authority figures are going to go is a voting precinct on the reservation."

In South Dakota the Democratic Party has engaged in an all-out campaign to register as many American Indian residents on reservations as possible. One person in Dewey County was accused of turning in four absentee ballot applications that were suspect, but two were found to be okay. The other two had mistakes. One person was registered in two separate counties, both on the Cheyenne River Sioux Reservation.

Registration on the Pine Ridge Reservation, Shannon County, was brisk and the county auditor sent more than 100 registration cards to be investigated. Some addresses were incorrect, birth dates were not accurate, signatures looked similar and some cards were returned with an incomplete address.

Daschle also said that the Democratic Party would do all possible to defend the rights of American Indians and other targeted minorities to vote.

"In every generation, we have tried to tear down barriers to full participation in the life of this nation. There is one means of participation that forms the foundation of every other: the right to vote. We will do whatever is necessary to make sure that on November fifth, all Americans can vote freely and without intimidation."

Of the 16,700 new voter registrations turned into county auditors only 400 have been questioned.

County Auditor Julie Pearson of Pennington County where one person was arrested for fraud, said she didn’t think many of the registration cards that were incorrect had anything to do with stuffing the ballot box but was the result of a person trying to make more money by turning in more cards.

"The right to vote is one of the hallmarks of our democracy.  I am deeply disturbed by the concerted Republican effort to make allegations and launch initiatives intended to suppress Native American voting. These efforts appear to be motivated more by partisan politics than a concern with clean elections, and all South Dakotans know that is wrong," Daschle said.