Trump Administration Argues For Rollback Of Voting Rights In U.S. Territories

On Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit in Chicago will consider an equal protection challenge by plaintiffs in Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands, who would be able to absentee vote for president and voting representation in Congress, if they lived in other U.S. territories or a foreign country, but are denied such rights based solely on their ZIP code, according to ‘We The People Project’, a non-profit that advocates for equal rights and representation in U.S. territories.

According to a release issued by the nonprofit on Wednesday, on Monday, the Trump Administration unexpectedly filed a last-minute letter with the court arguing for the first time that if an equal protection violation is found, the remedy should be to strip away statutorily provided absentee voting rights that are already provided to residents of certain territories.  As plaintiffs explained in a filing yesterday, the Trump Administration’s view that voting rights should be “leveled down” is unprecedented – for good reason courts are hesitant to strip voting rights provided by law. 

This new legal position comes as President Trump has said he will visit the Hurricane Irma-ravaged U.S. Virgin Islands in the coming days.  Moreover, the Trump Administration’s position is in conflict with a resolution passed by the Republican National Convention in August supporting “equal citizenship” for the more than 4 million U.S. citizens who call the territories home. 

“The solution to an equal protection violation is not to strip everyone of their voting rights, it is to expand enjoyment of the right to vote to all who are similarly situated,” said Neil Weare, President and Founder of We the People Project. “This turnaround, just weeks after the Republican National Committee spoke out in favor of voting rights in U.S. territories and possibly days before President Trump visits the U.S. Virgin Islands, is troubling to say the least.”

“This new position is essentially heads we win, tails you lose.  It makes even less sense than picking and choosing which former state residents are able to maintain absentee voting rights,” said Geoffrey Wyatt, pro bono counsel in the case, who will be arguing the case on Friday.

The Segovia plaintiffs are appealing a district court decision that relied on the much-maligned Insular Casesto hold for the first time that the right to vote is not a “fundamental right” in U.S. territories.  In doing so, it applied the lowest level of judicial scrutiny – rational basis review – to uphold federal and state overseas voting laws that allow former state residents to continue voting for President and voting representation in Congress by absentee ballot if they live in the Northern Mariana Islands, American Samoa, a foreign country, or even Antarctica or outer space, but not Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, or Puerto Rico. All case filings are available at http://www.equalrightsnow.org/segovia.

Two plaintiffs from the U.S. Virgin Islands, Pamela Colon and Lavonne Wise, had made travel arrangements to come to Chicago for the argument.  They learned this week that their flights have been cancelled, and they will remain in St. Croix to assist with recovery efforts.

“Federal recovery efforts following the recent devastation of our islands by Hurricane Irma highlight the important impact decisions in Washington have on our lives.  As U.S. citizens, we shouldn’t be excluded from the ballot box when it comes to electing the officials who are making these decisions,” said Pamela Colon, a criminal defense lawyer in St. Croix, VI who is a plaintiff in the case.

Plaintiffs also include Lavonne Wise, another St. Croix resident, the League of Women Voters for the Virgin Islands, veterans living in Guam and Puerto Rico, and the Iraq, Afghanistan and Persian Gulf Veterans of the Pacific.