• Home
  • Opinion
  • Quizzes
  • Redistricting
  • Sections
  • About Us
  • Voting
  • Events
  • Civic Ed
  • Campaign Finance
  • Directory
  • Election Dissection
  • Fact Check
  • Glossary
  • Independent Voter News
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Subscriptions
  • Log in
Leveraging Our Differences
  • news & opinion
    • Big Picture
      • Civic Ed
      • Ethics
      • Leadership
      • Leveraging big ideas
      • Media
    • Business & Democracy
      • Corporate Responsibility
      • Impact Investment
      • Innovation & Incubation
      • Small Businesses
      • Stakeholder Capitalism
    • Elections
      • Campaign Finance
      • Independent Voter News
      • Redistricting
      • Voting
    • Government
      • Balance of Power
      • Budgeting
      • Congress
      • Judicial
      • Local
      • State
      • White House
    • Justice
      • Accountability
      • Anti-corruption
      • Budget equity
    • Columns
      • Beyond Right and Left
      • Civic Soul
      • Congress at a Crossroads
      • Cross-Partisan Visions
      • Democracy Pie
      • Our Freedom
  • Pop Culture
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
      • American Heroes
      • Ask Joe
      • Celebrity News
      • Comedy
      • Dance, Theatre & Film
      • Diversity, Inclusion & Belonging
      • Faithful & Mindful Living
      • Music, Poetry & Arts
      • Sports
      • Technology
      • Your Take
  • events
  • About
      • Mission
      • Advisory Board
      • Staff
      • Contact Us
Sign Up
  1. Home>
  2. Voting>
  3. voter identification>

South Dakota rejects tribal IDs for voter registration

Geoff West
February 10, 2020
Standing Rock Sioux Reservation in South Dakota

South Dakota has the third largest number of Native Americans living on tribal lands, representing 8 percent of the state's population.

Scott Olson/Getty Images

South Dakota lawmakers look like they won't be doing anything this year to help American Indians overcome the structural and socioeconomic barriers that have long contributed to their historically low participation in elections.

Last week, the state House rejected a plan to allow Native Americans to use tribal identification cards as documentation when registering to vote. The Republicans in charge in Pierre cited concern that information on the IDs could not be independently verified by the secretary of state's office and could lead to fraud, since the cards are not state-issued and often do not include a mailing address.

The Democrats who made the proposal said it would boost civic engagement in tribal communities, which have some of the most anemic turnout in the state. They also noted tribal IDs are used in dealings with the federal government, including at airport security checkpoints.


The proposal, which was attached to a larger bill changing voter registration rules, would have included tribal IDs on a list of acceptable forms of identification, such as state-issued driver's licenses and Social Security cards.

Voting by indigenous peoples often lags behind other demographics. Heading into the 2018 midterm, an estimated 34 percent of Native Americans and Alaska Natives older than 18 were not registered — compared to 27 percent of non-Hispanic Whites. And American Indian turnout in some states was as much as 10 percentage points below other racial and ethic groups two years ago, according to the National Congress of American Indians, a voting rights advocacy group.

Sign up for The Fulcrum newsletter

South Dakota has the third largest number of Native Americans living on tribal lands, representing 8 percent of the state's population.

The Brennan Center for Justice has called the structural obstacles facing Native Americans voters "an often-overlooked crisis in our democracy." Those obstacles include states such as South Dakota that do not recognize tribal IDs for voting purposes as well as a lack of nearby polling locations and drop boxes to return absentee ballots.

A House subcommittee is expected to discuss these structural issues and possible solutions at a hearing Tuesday.

From Your Site Articles
  • South Dakota's ballot petition rules held unconstitutional - The Fulcrum ›
  • Poverty, isolation prevent Native Americans from voting - The Fulcrum ›
  • One step closer to ending Native American voter suppression - The Fulcrum ›
  • Native Americans face many obstacles to voting, report finds - The Fulcrum ›
  • Montana tribes win injunction on vote collection law - The Fulcrum ›
  • Amy Scott-Stoltz works to end partisan gerrymandering in SD - The Fulcrum ›
  • Reflection Indigenous Peoples' Day with Rev F Willis Johnson - The Fulcrum ›
  • South Dakota to offer automatic voter registration - The Fulcrum ›
Related Articles Around the Web
  • Voting-Age Population: South Dakota ›
  • Voting: South Dakota Secretary of State ›
  • The State of Native American Voting Rights | Brennan Center for ... ›
  • Voter Identification Requirements | Voter ID Laws ›
voter identification

Want to write
for The Fulcrum?

If you have something to say about ways to protect or repair our American democracy, we want to hear from you.

Submit
Get some Leverage Sign up for The Fulcrum Newsletter
Confirm that you are not a bot.
×
Follow
Contributors

Hypocrisy of pro-lifers being anti-LGBTQIA

Steve Corbin

A dangerous loss of trust

William Natbony

Shifting the narrative on homelessness in America

David L. Nevins

Reform in 2023: Leadership worth celebrating

Layla Zaidane

Two technology balancing acts

Dave Anderson

Reform in 2023: It’s time for the civil rights community to embrace independent voters

Jeremy Gruber
latest News

Three practical presidential pledges to promote national prosperity

James-Christian B. Blockwood
4h

Meet the Faces of Democracy: Justin Roebuck

Mia Minkin
4h

Podcast: Why Is Congressional Oversight Important, and How Can It Be Done Well? (with Elise Bean)

Kevin R. Kosar
Elise J. Bean
11h

Chipping away at election integrity: Virginia joins red state exodus from ERIC

David J. Toscano
30 May

Your Take on congressional incivility

Lennon Wesley III
26 May

White House plan to combat antisemitism needs to take on centuries of hatred, discrimination and even lynching in America

Pamela Nadell
26 May
Videos

Video: Honoring Memorial Day

Our Staff

Video: #ListenFirst Friday YOUnify & CPL

Our Staff

Video: What is the toll of racial violence on Black lives?

Our Staff

Video: What's next for migrants seeking asylum after Title 42

Our Staff

Video: An inside look at the campaign to repeal Pennsylvania’s closed primaries

Our Staff

Video: Where the immigration debate stands today

Our Staff
Podcasts

Podcast: AI revolution: Disaster or great leap forward?

Our Staff
25 May

Podcast: Can we fix America's financial crises?

Our Staff
23 May

Podcast: Gen Z's fight for democracy

Our Staff
22 May

Podcast: Political Football, Inc.

Our Staff
19 May
Recommended
Three practical presidential pledges to promote national prosperity

Three practical presidential pledges to promote national prosperity

Big Picture
Meet the Faces of Democracy: Justin Roebuck

Meet the Faces of Democracy: Justin Roebuck

State
Podcast: Why Is Congressional Oversight Important, and How Can It Be Done Well? (with Elise Bean)

Podcast: Why Is Congressional Oversight Important, and How Can It Be Done Well? (with Elise Bean)

Test Unlisted
Hypocrisy of pro-lifers being anti-LGBTQIA

Hypocrisy of pro-lifers being anti-LGBTQIA

Diversity Inclusion and Belonging
Chipping away at election integrity: 
Virginia joins red state exodus from ERIC

Chipping away at election integrity: Virginia joins red state exodus from ERIC

Big Picture
Video: Honoring Memorial Day

Video: Honoring Memorial Day