A civil rights complaint has been filed with the Department of Justice over early voting offices on reservations in South Dakota.

Four Directions Inc., a voting rights group, filed the complaint after Secretary of State Jason Gant refused to establish satellite offices on three reservations despite support from tribes and local officials.

“We’re talking about three of the poorest 10 counties in the United States,” Four Directions spokesman Bret Healy told The Sioux Falls Argus Leader.

Gant said he will ask the U.S. Election Assistance Commission whether he can use federal funds to open the offices. However, the commission has no members and has not issued any decisions in several years.

“I’m trying to get more clarification as to whether this has been allowed in the past,” Gant told the paper of the request to use Help America Vote Act funds to pay for the offices.

The state has received about $9 million in HAVA funds, the paper said.

Get the Story:
State cited in federal election complaint (The Sioux Falls Argus Leader 8/7)

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