A federal judge held another hearing in a voting rights lawsuit affecting members of the Eastern Shoshone Tribe and the Northern Arapaho Tribe in Wyoming.

Judge Alan B. Johnson already ruled that the voting system in Fremont County dilutes the Indian vote. He has yet to determine how to implement a remedy but he promised a decision before the terms of the current county commissioners expire in January 2011.

Tribal members want the entire county to go to a district system. But the county wants to create a separate district for tribal members while keeping the rest of the county on an at-large system.

"The fundamental bottom line to me is that we still need to have the five districts with a representative in each one," plaintiff Gary Collins, a member of the Northern Arapaho Tribe, told the Associated Press.

The county is being represented by the Mountain States Legal Foundation, a group that has lost a number of Indian voting rights cases. The group has fought protections for sacred sites, opposed subsistence rights for Alaska Natives and has represented clients who opposed tribal sovereignty

Get the Story:
Judge pledges decision in voting rights case (AP 7/28)

Lawsuit Documents:
Large v. Fremont County (ACLU)

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