The state of Nevada and two counties could end up paying well over $100,000 in legal expenses as they continue to wage a legal battle with two tribes over alleged violations of the U.S. Voting Rights Act.
A federal judge ordered Washoe and Mineral counties earlier this month to establish new early voting and Election Day voting sites on two Paiute reservations after concluding Native Americans were being denied equal access to the polls.
Nine additional tribes followed with a similar request last week in federal court in Reno.
Lawyers for the Pyramid Lake and Walker River Paiute tribes also filed a request for $117,000 in lawyer fees and expenses incurred to date.
That's 10 times as much as the tribes said it would have cost to comply with their lawsuit in the first place.