By Chris Aadland in KPVI news

In many cases, tribal IDs are the most important identification document Indigenous people use. Tribal leaders have also said that the process used to obtain one is more rigorous than getting a state-issued ID or driver’s license, leaders have said.

At the same time, tribal IDs also signify citizenship in a specific tribe — an important distinction for many tribal citizens. Many enrolled members also don’t drive and don’t have a license, complicating the efforts, tribal leaders have said. Tribal identification is the dominant form of ID used on reservations.

State officials have said larger-scale changes — like allowing tribal IDs to be the sole form of identification needed to vote — need to come from the federal government. But state lawmakers have proposed legislation that would allow voting officials to allow tribal IDs to be the only identification used to register, so long as the last four numbers of their social security number or driver’s license number is printed on the ID, in addition to making it explicitly clear in state rules that tribal IDs can be used to register.

Read the full article here.