Indian voting activists said that including Bighorn County’s cost, plus add another $ 100,000 total that the counties and state had to pay for the plaintiffs’ attorneys fees, and that number could be about $ 460,000.
Bret Healy, a consultant with South Dakota-based Four Directions, an Indian voting rights organization, said that means that money could have gone to satellite offices.
“They have always made this about the money, he said, adding that the funds spent could “have paid for satellite offices an awfully long time.”
Healy estimated the county could have set up a satellite office for $10,000 for the election, and the $119,000 spent on outside counsel could have provided the service for years.
“They wasted a lot of time on litigation when they could have done the right thing,” he said.
Source: Great Falls Tribune; 6.10.16
