On June 24, 2025, the Native American Rights Fund (NARF), the ACLU of Montana, and the American Civil Liberties Union filed a Motion to Intervene in a case brought initially by the Montana Federation of Public Employees, challenging a new Montana law that restricts Native American participation in the state’s electoral process.
The new law, Senate Bill 490 (SB 490), passed in the 2025 Montana Legislative session, restricts voter registration by eliminating eight critical hours of registration opportunity on Election Day. SB 490 harms Native Americans in rural Tribal communities across Montana’s seven Indian reservations by restricting access to the voter registration process. In doing so, SB 490 violates the right to vote and the guarantee of equal protection under the Montana Constitution.
This is the third time in six years that Western Native Voice and some of Montana’s sovereign Tribal nations have been forced to seek redress from the courts for the Legislature’s continued insistence on making it more difficult for Native Americans in Montana to vote. Plaintiffs include Western Native Voice, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes of the Flathead Reservation, the Blackfeet Nation, the Fort Belknap Indian Community, and the Northern Cheyenne Tribe.