American Samoa voter prosecution attracts Washington lobbyists

By Howard Hills

Alaska authorities are prosecuting American Samoans for casting ballots in recent elections, alleging only U.S. citizens have a legal right to vote in that state’s federal, state, county and local elections. Under federal law, our fellow Americans born south of the equator in American Samoa are classified as “U.S. nationals but not citizens.”  

Federal territorial law enables American Samoans to apply for reclassification as “U.S. citizens” in order to vote lawfully in Alaska and all other states, but that is a complicated and expensive process.  That’s why American Samoa’s representative in Congress has proposed a bill to streamline the process for nationals to be reclassified as citizens.  

Because U.S. “nationals” and “citizens” have the same legal duty of “allegiance” to America, some American Samoans may have thought there was no need to pay fees for reclassification as both nationals and citizens in order to vote. 

Perhaps there was confusion between the American Samoans and election officials about eligibility to vote, rather than intentional voter fraud.  That’s up to Alaska state prosecutors to prove in court if the case goes to trial.

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Meanwhile, a bit of legal circus ensued when Washington D.C. territorial policy lobbyist Neil Weare flew in for a photo-op and press conference on the case.  Weare created a distraction from real issues by declaring American Samoans are not nationals but have the same citizenship status as Americans born in a state of the union.  

Weare also warned Americans in all the U.S. territories that denial of voting rights to American Samoans would mean national and citizenship status historically conferred by federal statutes in all five “unincorporated” U.S. island territories can be taken away by the federal government at any time (including for Guam, Northern Marianas, Puerto Rico and U.S. Virgin Islands).

What was not reported by the press or disclosed by Weare is that for over a decade, all federal courts have repeatedly ruled against Weare’s position that birth in a territory confers the same status as birth in a state. 

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His lawsuits have been dismissed in multiple cases, including Fitisemanu v. U.S. (2022).  Yet, in the U.S. Virgin Islands press, Weare doubled down and exploited the defendants in the Alaska case to promote his legal advice to all the territories:

“’The federal government’s position has been…that there is no right to citizenship for people born in U.S. territories, that it’s a switch Congress can turn on and off…It’s the federal government‘s position that if Congress chooses to stop recognizing some of its citizens tomorrow, it can do so…really the citizenship of people born in any of the territories remains at risk.”

Weare’s assertion that the U.S. can strip away citizenship conferred by statute would also require the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn two time-honored nationality law rulings applicable nationwide. 

Those two cases, Afroyim and Bellei, are not part of the Insular Cases cases, but establish for all Americans that once conferred U.S. citizenship cannot be revoked, unless a citizen has taken actions that constitute voluntarily renouncing and intentionally relinquishing American nationality and citizenship.

American Samoans facing separation from family, loss of livelihood and loss of freedom  if convicted should not be exploited politically to advance an agenda unrelated to their interests. 

Weare was using the legal dilemma fellow Americans from one territory are enduring to peddle fears to Americans in all territories without any proven legal basis.  

American Samoans have not asked for a change of political status to be imposed by Washington, just clearly defined status and rights when residing in any state as nationals and/or citizens.

Howard Hills is a former counsel for Territorial Status Affairs in the Executive Office of the President, Senior Advisor, Office of the Secretary of the Interior, and Senior Advisor to the Special Presidential Envoy for Pacific Island Status Negotiations.

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