OMAHA — A federal judge has approved an agreement between two Indian tribes and Thurston County that gives Native American voters the majority in five of seven county board of supervisors districts.
Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Rossiter Jr. called the agreement "fair, reasonable and adequate" in a Jan. 26 order that provides for the settlement of a lawsuit in which the Winnebago and Omaha tribes and several individuals said the county and the board of supervisors had violated the Voting Rights Act with its previous district map in 2022.
"The settlement reasonably resolves difficult voting rights issues in a manner that is fair to all parties," Rossiter said in his ruling.
The settlement includes a new district map, which the Thurston County Board of Supervisors has approved for implementation in this year's election. The map will be in place until after the next census in 2030, when population shifts could require the redrawing of districts.
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The tribes and nine individuals sued Thurston County, the seven county board members and the county clerk in January 2023 in U.S. District Court in Omaha, saying a district map approved in 2022 violated the Voting Rights Act because it did not provide Native voters a fair chance to elect candidates of their choice in at least four of the seven districts.
In November, the parties reached an agreement on a redrawn district map. Lawyers for the tribes said they are pleased to have the agreement approved.
"This is the third time the county has been sued under the Voting Rights Act and the third time the county has had to take court-ordered corrective action. Hopefully this is the last time this has to be done. I believe it is in line with what the tribes had asked for during the redistricting process," said Mike Carter, a lawyer with the Native American Rights Fund civil rights organization.
The tribes and county agree the new map complies with the Voting Rights Act. Thurston County Board chairman Glen Meyer said the agreement was reached amicably.
"The lawsuit originated from a perceived problem the tribes had with the redistricting map adopted by the Thurston County Board of Supervisors after the 2020 census," Meyer said in a released statement. "At that time, the board thoughtfully considered three maps developed by an independent contractor as well as a redistricting map provided by the tribes with one of the contractor maps eventually being selected. The tribes and county cooperated in developing a new map, which addressed the concerns of both parties and resolved the issue."
Natives make up 50.3% of the voting age population, compared with 43% of whites, in Thurston County, which is home to both the Winnebago and Omaha Indian reservations. Because of their majority, the tribes said in the lawsuit, Natives should have a legitimate chance to elect representatives in at least four districts, but the former plan gave them a clear majority in only three.
Though Natives had a slight majority in two other districts under the disputed map, the lawsuit said, those districts were drawn purposely to take advantage of traditional low Native voter turnout and ensure white politicians maintained control. The board currently has two Native and five white members.
The county denied the discrimination claims and argued that the map met Voting Rights Act requirements.
The map was used in the 2022 election cycle, in which no Native candidates ran in three of the four districts up for election.
Under the newly approved settlement, Natives now have a majority of voters in five districts. Natives will have majorities of 95% and 87% in districts that include Macy and Winnebago, respectively. Native majorities in the other three districts are 74%, 69% and 53%. In the remaining two districts, white voters have majorities of 94% and 85%.
"Terms of the settlement provide relief for our clients and allow them to elect candidates of their choice," said Ezra Rosenberg, a lawyer with Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights Under Law, which also represented the tribes.
The new district map does not displace any current supervisors from their districts, giving incumbents the chance to run for re-election in their present districts when their current terms are on the ballot this year or in 2026.
The lawsuit was the third voting rights suit the tribes have filed against Thurston County. In 1978, the Justice Department sued the county over its at-large method of electing supervisors. A consent decree in that case resulted in the current seven-district format. A second lawsuit stemmed from redistricting after the 1990 Census that diluted Native voting strength by not creating a third district in which Natives had an effective majority.