The Spirit Lake Tribe and two individual voters filed a lawsuit against Benson County, North Dakota, for adopting a redistricting plan that violates the rights of Native voters. In response to a Native population increase of 17% that would have required creating at least two Native majority districts, Benson County abandoned its previous district system altogether.
The North Dakota county adopted an at-large voting system that prevents the increased number of Native votes from having an impact in elections, while subject to a consent decree issued in 2000, that prevented the county from adopting an at-large voting system to avoid violating Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Read more about the Spirit Lake Tribe v. Benson County case on the NARF Website.