First the South Dakota Attorney General announced no charges in the chili for votes scam on South Dakota Indian reservations.  Now the Department of Justice has decided  not to bring federal charges.  It is a federal crime to offer anything of value in exchange for a vote, even a bowl of chili.  “U.S. Attorney Brendan Johnson announced Tuesday he will not file charges over allegations of vote-buying due to early voting rallies during the 2010 election.”

Here is the curious part of the article:  “Johnson said he consulted with voting rights experts at the U.S. Department of Justice in making his decision not to file charges.”

Huh?  “Voting Rights Experts?”  The only “Voting Rights Experts” in the DOJ are the lawyers inside the Voting Rights Section in the Civil Rights Division.  The problem with consulting them regarding chili-for-votes is that they are not criminal lawyers.  In fact, whether or not the federal criminal laws are being violated has absolutely nothing to do with “voting rights.”  To the contrary, the folks in that part of the Justice Department usually act as advocates for native populations.  It is difficult to imagine why voting rights experts were consulted on this purely criminal election law question.  The Election Crimes Branch of the Public Integrity Section of the Criminal Division was the proper place to turn for answers inside Justice, not the Voting Section in the Civil Rights Division.  Perhaps the Rapid City Journal has the terminology wrong.  Perhaps not.