Missouri River dispute and more news from the states

Hello, readers! As we close in on Election Day, we’re bringing you more news on voting and campaigns.

A federal judge denied a U.S. Department of Justice request that would have forced California to not count the ballots of 20,000 voters the Trump administration alleges are likely noncitizens. The decision sets the case on a course to possibly reach the U.S. Supreme Court within days, States Newsroom’s D.C. Bureau reports.

Washington state’s top election official is calling on federal authorities to provide more evidence that the state’s voter rolls include hundreds of noncitizens, as a preliminary investigation reveals U.S. citizens are listed.

President Donald Trump called for Alaska Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mary Peltola to be criminally charged and drop out or be removed from the ballot, after reporting revealed her campaign tried to recruit spoiler candidates.

And in Georgia, with a U.S. Senate seat, the governor’s mansion and a slew of other statewide races on the ballot, former President Barack Obama visited the state to fire up supporters to elect a slate of Democrats and send a message to the White House. 

Tennessee: Republican Gov. Bill Lee said he is seeking more information about new rules imposed by state driver’s license administrators that have prevented immigrants legally authorized to work in the United States — including so-called Dreamers — from obtaining or renewing a driver’s license.

New Mexico: Immigrant advocates and law enforcement leaders told state lawmakers they plan to reintroduce a bill in the upcoming legislative session that would streamline the process for crime victims without legal status to obtain visas.

North Dakota: The state Supreme Court denied an effort by GOP officials to overturn potential election victories of four legislative candidates whose paperwork they challenged, saying the court case came too late.

Arkansas: Sponsors of a proposed constitutional amendment that would only allow United States citizens to vote in the state elections say it’s a preventive measure, but critics argue it’s unnecessary and sends immigrants an unwelcoming message. 

Maine: Citizens of Wabanaki Nations are divided over who should represent the state in the U.S. Senate, highlighting the tension the tribes face between the need for investment and their ultimate goal of full sovereignty.

Ohio: With data showing domestic violence as the “most prevalent violent crime in Ohio,” state officials recently announced boosts to domestic violence programs, including survivor services and law enforcement training.

Wisconsin: The Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Tampa Bay Rays 4-1 in Game 5 of the World Series at Tropicana Field in St. Petersburg, Florida, clinching the first championship in the team’s history.

See the rest of the news of the day from all 50 states, plus our D.C. Bureau and Stateline, on News From The States.

Downstream Missouri River states have worried for decades about receiving an insufficient flow of water from upstream dams. Now they’re worried their share of water could be further diminished by potential pipelines for dry Western states, South Dakota Searchlight reports.

The concern is the basis of a dispute about the U.S. House version of the federal Water Resources Development Act. A provision in the bill would require approval from all governors in Missouri River states to study or construct a project that moves water from the river or its tributaries to a non-Missouri River state.

The bill has passed the House and awaits action in the Senate, where a Senate version of the legislation lacks the controversial provision.

The House bill’s definition of “Missouri River states” includes not only the seven states where the river flows —Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota — but also Colorado, Minnesota and Wyoming, which have land within the river’s 530,000-square-mile drainage basin.

Republican U.S. Rep. Sam Graves, a downstream lawmaker, sponsors the House bill. Supporters of the controversial provision include an organization in his state, the Coalition to Protect the Missouri River.

The governors of Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota — where the Missouri River flows through a series of dams and reservoirs — recently joined with governors in the Missouri River Basin states of Colorado and Wyoming on a letter opposing the House provision.

Legendary civil rights activist and United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, a native New Mexican, died Wednesday at her home in California, Source New Mexico reports.

Erik Olvera, a spokesperson for Huerta’s foundation, told Source NM in an email that Huerta died Wednesday morning from cancer, “surrounded by her family.” 

Huerta was born in Dawson, a small mining town in Northeastern New Mexico, before becoming an effective and celebrated activist for migrant farmworkers across the United States. She co-founded United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in the early 1960s, where the pair first began mobilizing migrants working on large grape farms in California.

By the late 1960s, the organization had built a growing union through much of the West and began training college students in how to build union power. That’s where New Mexico Democratic state Rep. Patricia Roybal Caballero, then a student at the University of Texas at El Paso, first met Huerta in the 1960s.

The two struck up a relationship that grew closer in the six decades since, Roybal Caballero told Source NM on Wednesday.

“Every bit of who I am and what I do is rooted in my relationship with Dolores,” she said.