Ten residents of Whittier, who are U.S. nationals from American Samoa but not U.S. citizens, have been charged with perjury and voter misconduct, Department of Law officials said on April 7.
People from Puerto Rico, the Marianas (Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands), and the U.S. Virgin Islands automatically acquire U.S. citizenship at birth, but U.S. citizenship is not granted automatically to people born in American Samoa and the Swains Island.
“Voting is a right of citizenship,” said Alaska Deputy Attorney General John Skidmore. “To be clear, you must be a citizen to vote in Alaska in any election – federal, state or local.”
No further information regarding forthcoming court appearances was provided.
Charges against the 10 individuals, who were not identified, are only allegations and are not evidence of guilt, the agency said. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial at which the prosecution must prove guilt beyond reasonable doubt.
