Montana Republican Not Sure Why Native Americans Even Allowed To Vote If Tribes Want 'Sovereignty'

Also explains most 'conservatives' totally agree with him.

A would-be Montana legislator raised what he considered a really important question at a December 27 meeting of the Lewis and Clark County Republican Central Committee:  Should Montana allow members of Native American tribes to vote in state elections?

Drew Zinecker, one of several Republicans hoping to be appointed to fill a vacant legislative seat, was Just Asking Questions: "If the reservations want to say they are independent countries … but they want a lot of handouts, why are we counting their ballots?"

Mind you, tribal sovereignty isn't about the desire to be an "independent nation" but about self-governance under treaty rights negotiated with the federal government. But Zinecker considered this a significant matter to bring up in his audition for a potential appointment to fill the District 80 state House seat, which was recently vacated by former Rep. Becky Beard (R) when she was appointed to a seat in the state Senate. Zinecker has served in a number of political jobs in Montana Republican politics, but hasn't run for office.

The Montana Free Press reports that Zinecker's remarks were met with "mixed applause" by the audience, during a discussion of "election integrity," which apparently Zinecker thought might be imperiled by letting foreigners from Native America vote. The problem, of course, is that Native Americans tend to vote for Democrats, an "election integrity" problem that the New Yorker notes has led Republicans to make voting more difficult for Native Americans on tribal land and Wonkette notes led troops-loving North Dakota to disallow military ID to vote, since Native Americans are the demographic most likely to join up and serve their country. Which is the US.

Zinecker's suggestion that it might be appropriate to disenfranchise tribal members from voting apparently didn't bother the county GOP, since it voted to advance Zinecker and five other candidates to the next stage of the process, when three nominees will be put forward for consideration by the County Commissions for the two counties represented in District 80.

Following the meeting, Zinecker even generously expounded on his novel thoughts on voter eligibility in an interview with the Montana Free Press, insisting that his views on tribal sovereignty and voting rights are actually very common among conservatives, because honestly it's just logical:

"It’s a very consensus opinion among conservatives that if the tribes want to continue to assert their sovereignty, that draws into serious question whether they should be allowed to vote or not," Zinecker said.

He added that because the state legislature "can only deal with the state," his comments would only apply to state elections, although we're willing to speculate that he just might think it oughta apply to federal elections too, since after all those people want to be their own nation and want handouts all the time. Gosh, do you suppose he thinks such "handouts" should end, too? It's anybody's guess.

Was there more? Look, when a guy has big ideas, you can't very well expect him to censor himself:

Zinecker said one major justification for his position is that conservatives in state government want to — but can’t — audit the finances of tribal nations as the Legislative Audit Committee can with state agencies.

“That’s a big problem. They increasingly assert they are sovereign nations. And if they want to continue to operate on a totally different standard or playing field from Montanans, then they need to truly be those independent nations, and that starts with voting,” Zinecker said.

Mmm Hmm. It's all about fairness for white people. We did not see that coming.

The story notes that because most funding for the 12 recognized tribes in Montana comes from the federal government, the feds actually do audit tribal governments, although some eight percent of tribal funding also comes from the state.

Despite Zinecker's insistence that all the conservatives agree with him, state Sen. Jason Small, who's a Republican and a member of the Northern Cheyenne Nation, said such thinking was limited to a "very select group" in the Montana Lege, which was a nice way to put it.

“Goddamn, I can’t believe he said that,” Small said. “It’s funny but it’s not funny.”

Small said tribes in Montana, despite their status as sovereign government entities subject to federal and tribal law, have a “symbiotic relationship” with the state, including numerous revenue sharing agreements and second-order benefits derived from tourism and other economic drivers, he said. Additionally, owners of fee land on reservations — that is, land not held in trust by the federal government — must pay state and local property taxes.

“You can’t pick and choose who votes,” Small said. “Where do you draw that line — ‘Hey, you didn’t pay taxes this year, you can’t vote?’”

That said, Zinecker insists that he knows of several candidates for Montana secretary of state who have made "not counting [tribal] votes" a central part of their platform, although he declined to name any. But don't you worry: it's not that he really wants to keep anyone from voting, heavens no!

“And I’m all for counting their votes,” he said. “I just want them to go ahead and be Montanans. Let Montanans be Montanans. No discrimination.”

Clearly, he simply wants everyone to be Republican Equal, which means everyone should be happy with things the way white Republicans like them. Bet he has thoughts on how history should be taught, too.

Finally, the story notes that another Republican, State Rep. Joe Read, explained that Zinecker was just kicking around a hypothetical scenario based on a conversation they'd had back in 2021 about how tribes aren't truly sovereign, but instead are

"a federally dependent people group.”

“We still represent them as citizens of the state of Montana,” he said. “That was a discussion we had in the back floor — and that was if they were truly a sovereign country, that would negate their ability to vote. Literally, it was only an ‘if.’”

Well heck, nothing to worry about there, even though Zinecker sure didn't say any of it was hypothetical. Read nonetheless supports Zinecker's bid to be appointed to the District 80 seat, and if that happens, we suppose we'll get a chance to see whether it was just a college-dorm idea or not.

[ Montana Free Press / New Yorker/ Photo:  "gillfoto," Creative CommonsLicense 4.0 ]

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