2028 plebscite? Bill to seek voters' nod to set Guam's decolonization process in motion

By Pacific Island Times News Staff

Sen. William A. Parkinson today introduced a bill that would get the ball rolling on Guam's long-stalled political status plebiscite by seeking voters' approval to put it on the ballot in 2028.

“At some point, you either respect the people enough to let them speak, or you accept perpetual limbo," Parkinson said.

Bill 258-38, which seeks to break the gridlock on the plebiscite issue, would present the question to voters in this year's general election scheduled for Nov. 3.

The ballot would include the polar question: “Shall the people of Guam vote in a plebiscite in 2028 to change our unincorporated territory status?”

The vote on the question would be open to all registered voters qualified to vote in the 2026 general election.

If approved, the government of Guam would be mandated to conduct a territory-wide political status plebiscite in 2028, with time in between for robust public education and island-wide civic preparation.

“This bill creates a definite timeline for a democratic vote on self-determination, and with a date certain, there can be time for education, debate, and deliberation, but with real, concrete timelines.  This is Guam choosing democracy and civic engagement," Parkinson said.

Parkinson said the bill is rooted in a simple principle. When the world starts talking like conquest is back, Guam should answer the only way a free people answers: with a vote.

“When leaders speak openly about acquiring other peoples’ homelands with conquest and military force, our response should be a democracy. We choose the ballot over belligerence. We choose democracy over demagoguery."

Guam's political status vote has been delayed for decades due to a dispute over voter eligibility.

The plebiscite has not been initiated despite the Ninth Circuit's 2019 ruling, which struck down a local statute restricting voting to "native inhabitants," declaring it unconstitutional.

Bill 258-38 is a companion to Parkinson's Bill 242-38, which would extend political status to all registered voters, regardless of race.

"People can disagree, even passionately, about the eligibility question, and that debate deserves to happen in the open," Parkinson said. "But I hope we can agree it is time to stop delaying the moment of decision. Set the date, do the education, and let people speak."

Parkinson noted that Guam has not had a political status plebiscite that meaningfully ascertained the will of the people on status options since 1982, when Guam held its first plebiscite, followed by a runoff later that year.

“Generations of our people have grown up, worked, served in uniform, raised families, paid taxes, and lived under an unincorporated territory status without ever being given a clear, modern democratic moment to express their will on political status,” he said. 

Parkinson said the urgency has sharpened because the international environment is changing in plain sight. He pointed to the recent global controversy over the U.S. objective to acquire Greenland, coupled with rhetoric suggesting coercion and even military force.

“We reject the notion that conquest of an unwilling people is back as a tool of statecraft,” Parkinson said. “We reject belligerence as policy. We reject conquest as diplomacy. We reject the idea that might makes right. We answer that with democracy, with consent of the governed, with the very principles America was founded on.”

Guam is among the last 16 colonies in the 21st century.

“In a world returning to empire talk, Guam should model something better.

“A small island can still speak with a big moral voice, and that voice is a vote," Parkinson said.

"This is about the dignity of a people choosing their future peacefully. It is about answering coercion with consent. It is about answering conquest with a ballot," he added.

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