F.O.I.A. Request Seeks Correspondence over Tribal Voting Proposals

ALEXANDRIA, VA (June 24, 2015) — The American Civil Rights Union (ACRU) today filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the U.S. Justice Department regarding actions to force states to hand jurisdiction of polling places over to Native American tribal authorities.

The request to the DOJ’s Office of Civil Rights, the Office of Legal Policy, and the Office of Legislative Affairs seeks copies of documents, letters, e-mails and other communications between Justice officials and several liberal pressure groups led by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) pertaining to a court case, Poor Bear, et al., v. County of Jackson (South Dakota) and to the “Tribal Equal Access to Voting Act of 2015.”

“Attorney General Loretta Lynch has sent a draft of a bill to Congress that would strip state and local election officials of constitutionally assigned election powers and reassign them to tribal governments,” said ACRU Chairman and CEO Susan A. Carleson. “It could apply nationwide, affecting elections in the Dakotas, Arizona, Colorado, Oklahoma, and Montana.”

The F.O.I.A. letter notes that the bill was authored at the Obama Justice Department, which “has a history of colluding with left-leaning groups in regards to voting and election matters.”

In addition to the ACLU, the request for information between March 18, 2014 and June 23, 2015 names the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under the Law, the Democratic National Committee, the Oglala Sioux Tribe, Project Vote, the Advancement Project, the Brennan Center, and several individuals.

“The Constitution of the United States grants the states broad power to prescribe the times, places and manner of holding elections for senators and representatives [and] similar broad control over the election process for state offices,” the F.O.I.A. letter states.

“The legislation would create a new cause of action for groups to sue local election officials in federal court in order to seize control over polling places, not to mention showering lawyers with fat attorney fee awards,” Mrs. Carleson said. “It’s all disguised as a process rule, but it’s really designed to help liberals win elections.”

Read the full request here.