Bill seeks to lift race-based restrictions on Guam's political status vote

By Mar-Vic Cagurangan

Seeking to pave the way for Guam’s long-postponed political status plebiscite, Sen. William Parkinson has introduced a bill that would remove ancestry-based voter restrictions, which have posed a stumbling block to the process.

William Parkinson

Bill 242-38 would amend Guam law to open up the process to all registered voters regardless of race, taking a cue from a court ruling that struck the discriminatory statute as unconstitutional under the Fifteenth Amendment.

"Without this bill, a plebiscite is legally impossible," Parkinson said. "This is the generation that will no longer speak of status as theory. We will vote on it, legislate it, transmit it and compel Congress to answer it."

In a yet-to-be-scheduled political status vote, Guam would be asked to pick from three options: independence, statehood and free association.

Parkinson noted that the self-determination vote, which never came, became nothing more than a myth for young generations.

The non-binding plebiscite has been indefinitely postponed due to a controversy over a provision that limits the process to “native inhabitants,” which under Guam law refers to those “who became U.S. citizens by virtue of the 1950 Organic Act of Guam and descendants of those persons.”

The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, in response to a lawsuit filed by former Yigo resident Arnold “Dave” Davis, held that limiting the political status vote to a certain group of people based on race was unconstitutional. The U.S. Supreme Court declined to take up the case.

 "The legal logic is straightforward. Under Davis v. Guam, we cannot conduct a plebiscite whose qualifications are based on ancestry; it is unconstitutional," Parkinson said.

Despite the court ruling, Guam's self-determination process remains in limbo.

“The ruling makes it legally necessary to amend Guam’s statute before any plebiscite can be conducted,” Parkinson said, noting that while the legislature takes no position on the court’s reasoning, it must act to remove the obstacles preventing Guam from holding a plebiscite.

Guam serves as a key U.S. strategic asset, known as the “tip of the spear,” with 10,000 military personnel, an air base for F-35 fighters and B-2 bombers and home port for Virginia-class nuclear submarines.

As a territory, Guam cannot vote for the U.S. president, and its lone delegate to Congress has no voting power on the floor.

Independence advocates and representatives from the Guam Commission on Decolonization regularly testify at the U.N.’s Decolonization Committee, where the island has been listed as a Non-Self-Governing Territory since 1946.

Bill 242-38 is a companion to a non-binding resolution endorsing Guam's full integration into the American union, possibly as the 51st state.

Parkinson said the statehood resolution, which he introduced earlier this year, is scheduled for a public hearing in January and is expected to be placed on the agenda for the next available session after the committee report's submission.

"The resolution performs the second half of the necessary work," he said. It articulates the political status direction Guam believes would best secure equality, stability, and full democratic rights, consistent with my long-standing position that Guam’s denial of full federal representation is incompatible with American democratic principles."

The Guam legislature does not have the authority to make any unilateral change to the territory's status.

Under the Territorial Clause of the U.S. Constitution, Congress retains plenary authority.

"However, Congress should not act without a clear expression of the will of the governed. A vote of the people, coupled with a duly adopted resolution of the Guam legislature, forms the most compelling declaration of that will," Parkinson

said.

"This bill ensures that our voice and our choice are heard in the halls of Congress," he added.

Parkinson has organized community forums to explore alternative legal and procedural pathways to a plebiscite.

But most options presented and discussed were not “legally executable,” Parkinson said, pointing out that removing the barrier “is simply the only path left that moves us toward a vote.”

He underscored the importance of active public discourse and civic engagement.

"If our future matters, then our voices must be heard now,” Parkinson said. “This is our moment. If we want our children to inherit a Guam that chooses its destiny rather than waiting for it, then we must act. Let us finally advance the plebiscite from aspiration to reality.”

In May 2024, Attorney General Douglas Moylan issued a legal opinion, stating that Guam’s political status plebiscite must be open to all registered voters, noting that the U.S. Constitution “will not permit a vote for this purpose to be limited to a subset of voters.”

In a legal opinion requested by Gov. Lou Leon Guerrero, Moylan suggested that the legislature repeal the local statute that seeks to limit the vote to those who fall under the definition of “native inhabitants of Guam.”

Moylan said the methodology enacted by the past Guam legislature in determining Guam’s political future "is legally flawed and wasted decades pursuing,” Moylan wrote.

Parkinson said generations of Guamanians have waited for decades to get the opportunity to answer the question of the island's political future.

“The movement for CHamoru self-determination does not end because we adhere to constitutional requirements; it evolves," he said. "This bill aligns our aspirations with a legally viable path so that this generation of Guamanians can finally decide between independence, free association or statehood.”

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