Fort Belknap tribal members allege Blaine County commission elections discriminatory

A new federal lawsuit alleges Blaine County dilutes the relative strength of Native American voters in elections for Board of Commissioners.

In the complaint, three tribal members of the Fort Belknap Indian Community are suing the county, the commissioners, the clerk and recorder, and election manager alleging the three commission districts were unlawfully drawn. 

The plaintiffs want the U.S. District Court Billings Division to find Blaine County’s three commissioner districts don’t comply with the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees a “one person, one vote” doctrine, by creating districts of unequal population. 

They also want the court to implement a redistricting plan that equalizes the population between the three districts. 

In a statement provided by Upper Seven Law, one of two groups representing the plaintiffs, litigation director Molly Danahy said “the right to vote is the starting premise of our free society — it ensures that we, the people, can hold our government accountable to the rule of law.

“Districts that violate the basic principle that every vote should count the same are unconstitutional. Blaine County’s Commissioner map must distribute power equally among its voters.”

The UCLA Voting Rights Project is also representing the plaintiffs. 

The Blaine County Attorney did not immediately respond to questions sent on Monday afternoon. 

The complaint alleges that the three commission districts have an unequal distribution of voters, which ultimately diminishes the voting power of Native American residents. 

The county redistricted last in 2024, and the redistricting resolution stated that the county was required “to maintain commissioner districts having essentially the same population percentages” as in previous years. The three districts were described as being “majority American Indian,” “Majority Non-American Indian,” and “Mix District.”

While the districts were originally created in 2013 and remained the same through the 2024 redistricting resolution, “the court documented disproportionate population changes within the districts,” according to the suit. 

Using numbers cited by the county, the lawsuit shows that District 1, the majority Native American district, has a total population of 2,777; while District 2, the majority non-Native district, has a population of 2,098 — a discrepancy of 28.41%.

An ideal population split would have equal districts of around 2,390. 

The districts are “presumptively unconstitutional because its population deviation exceeds 10%,” the suit argues. 

It also argued the county did not provide a “good faith basis” for the excessive population deviations because of the racial makeup targets.

District 1 is around 95% American Indian, and attorneys for the plaintiffs argue that it takes “approximately 1.32 people voting in District 1, the most populous district, to have the same effect as 1 person voting in District 2, the least populous,” and most non-Native district. 

The county as a whole is roughly 51.4% Native American according to the 2020 census. 

“​​There is no legitimate justification for the commissioners’ failure to equalize population,” the complaint states. 

“The weight of a person’s vote should not depend on which side of a district line they live on,” said Sonni Waknin, senior voting rights counsel at the Voting Rights Project. “Blaine County’s map goes against the principles of our representative government. We are asking the Court to enforce the Constitution and require districts that give voters an equal voice in their county government.”https://dailymontanan.com/2026/11/09/fort-belknap-tribal-members-allege-blaine-county-commission-elections-discriminatory/