North Dakota Voter Suppression Backfires

All those voter suppression efforts in North Dakota led the Native communities there to react spectacularly, in some cases, to double turnout over previous midterms, and flipping three red seats blue in the state legislature:

...galvanized by anger over the state’s voter ID law and aided by the intensive efforts of tribal leaders and advocacy groups, [Native Americans] turned out for last week’s election in numbers unprecedented even for a presidential election, much less a midterm.

In Sioux County, where the Standing Rock Indian Reservation is, turnout was up 105 percent from the last midterm elections in 2014 and 17 percent from the 2016 presidential election, according to data from the North Dakota secretary of state’s office. In Rolette County, home to the Turtle Mountain Band of Chippewa Indians, it was up 62 percent from 2014 and 33 percent from 2016. In Benson County, home to the Spirit Lake Nation, it was up 52 percent from 2014 and 10 percent from 2016.