Monday, May 1, 2006  The Voting Rights Act and Alaska  The
Native American Rights Fund, in conjunction with the National
Congress of American Indians, is working with a coalition of
civil rights organizations under the direction of the Lawyers
Committee For Civil Rights (LCCR) to ensure that Congress
reauthorizes certain remedial provisions within the Voting
Rights Act (VRA) that are scheduled to expire in 2007. In
preparation for upcoming legislative hearings, NARF prepared
testimony and authored a comprehensive report that was submitted
to members of Congress. This report, the first of its kind,
details Alaska’s experience under the VRA and concludes, rather
surprisingly, not only that Alaska should continue to be covered
under the VRA but also that Alaska has never complied with the
current mandate under the VRA with respect to Alaska Natives.
The following is the executive summary to the report, which was
authored by Natalie Landreth of the Alaska office, Richard Guest
of the DC office, and Boalt Hall law