• ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) -- Attorney General Eric Holder said Monday his office will consult with tribes across the country to develop ways to increase voting access for American Indians and Alaska Natives.
• Holder said the goal is to require state and local election officials to place at least one polling site in a location chosen by tribal governments in parts of the nation that include tribal lands. Barriers to voting, he said, include English-only ballots and inaccessible polling places.
• In Alaska, for example, the village of Kasigluk is separated into two parts by a river with no bridge. On election day, people on one side have just a few hours to vote before a ballot machine is taken by boat to the other side. Several other Alaska villages have been designated as permanent absentee voting areas, which is something allowed by regulation, according to Gail Fenumiai, director of the state Division of Elections.
• In Montana, a voting rights lawsuit is pending from tribal members on the Crow, Northern Cheyenne and Fort Belknap reservations. They want county officials to set up satellite voting offices to make up for the long distances they must travel to reach courthouses for early voting or late registration.
• "These conditions are not only unacceptable, they're outrageous," Holder said. "As a nation, we cannot -- and we will not -- simply stand by as the voices of Native Americans are shut out of the democratic process."
• After consulting with tribal leaders, his office will seek to work with Congress on a potential legislative proposal, Holder said.
• Associate Attorney General Tony West discussed the announcement later Monday in Anchorage, during a speech to the National Congress of American Indians.
• Despite reforms to strengthen voting rights, there also have been setbacks, West told the crowd. He cited last year's U.S. Supreme Court ruling in favor of Shelby County, Alabama.
• The decision effectively stripped the federal government of its most potent tool to stop voting bias -- a requirement in the landmark Voting Rights Act that all or parts

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