U.S. Territorial Residents’ Right to Vote for the Federal Representatives

Abstract

The United States is a federal state, which means the Federal Constitution distributes legislative and executive power between the federal government and the state governments. In this regard, the Federal Constitution states that the right of election for the members of the House of Senate and the House of Representative, as well as the President and the Vice President is vested in each states. The electoral college system is a result of the constitutional determination, and its premise is the citizens of the United States are primarily the members of each states. However, this very design has created an alignation of the U.S. territory residents. Guam, Puerto Rico, Virgin Island, Northern Mariana Islands, Samoa, etc, are not states according to the Federal Constitution, therefore their residents are not subject to the right to vote for the federal representatives. Futhermore residents who were originally residents of a state but have moved to a U.S. territory are also deprived of such right, for they are no longer members of any state. The denial of the right to vote on federal level for the U.S. territory residents is largely supported by the decisions of the U.S. federal and district courts. The “Insular Cases” set up “Incorporation Doctrine”, which situated the right to vote as artificial or remedial right. Throughout the 20th century, the right to vote has clearly been considered as the fundamental right, yet the territorial residents’ right to vote for the federal representatives has taken as a privilege that can be neglected. Particularly, the issue of violation of equal protection on the matter of territorial residents who originally resided in a state, has consistently been ignored, as the courts overlooked the inherent legislative flaw of UOCAVA. The denial of the territorial residents’ right to vote for the federal representatives is problematic on two levels. For one, it contradicts the interpretation of the U.S Supreme Court on the right to vote, thus threatening its legitimacy. On another note, the territorial residents become repudiated as second class citizens, which leads to the negligence of the federal government’s duty to create an environment where all members are equally respected, posing questions on the relevance of the institution.