RENO, Nev. (AP) — The Nevada Indian Commission is honoring three Native Americans who fought a pair of Nevada counties and the secretary of state to win satellite polling places on two reservations.
Ralph Burns and Jimmie James of the Pyramid Lake Paiute Tribe, and Johnny Williams Jr. of the Walker River Paiute Tribe received American Indian Community Leader of the Year awards during the commission's recent banquet ceremony at the governor's mansion.
Commission executive Sherry Rupert told the Reno Gazette-Journal the award was for courage and effort to get the vote for tribe members.
Burns, James and Williams were among plaintiffs in a lawsuit against Secretary of State Barbara Cegavske and Washoe and Mineral counties, which initially denied the tribes' requests for early voting places in the communities of Nixon and Schurz.