Associated Press
OMAHA, Neb. — A federal judge has approved an agreement between two tribes and an eastern Nebraska county that gives Native voters a majority in five of the county’s seven board districts.
Chief U.S. District Judge Robert Rossiter Jr. called the agreement a “fair, reasonable and adequate” settlement of a lawsuit in which the Winnebago and Omaha tribes alleged that Thurston County and its board of supervisors violated the Voting Rights Act with a district map adopted in 2022.
“The settlement reasonably resolves difficult voting rights issues in a manner that is fair to all parties,” Rossiter said in his Jan. 26 ruling.
Thurston County is on Nebraska’s border with Iowa, between Omaha, Nebraska, and Sioux City, Iowa. Much of it overlaps the two tribes’ reservations. Native Americans make up 50.3 percent of the county’s voting age population, compared to 43 percent for Whites.
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The Sioux City Journal reported that the settlement includes a new district map, which the county has approved for this year’s election.