An Alaska state appeals court heard arguments on Thursday over whether to dismiss felony voter misconduct charges against a woman born in American Samoa, a case that has focused attention on the complex citizenship status of people from the U.S. territory.
Lawyers for Tupe Smith asked the Alaska Court of Appeals in Anchorage to reverse a lower court decision that allowed the indictment to stand. Smith was arrested after winning a seat on a regional school board in 2023. She maintains that she relied on incorrect advice from local election officials when she registered to vote as a U.S. citizen.
In court filings, her attorneys argued that Smith genuinely believed U.S. nationals could vote in local elections and had no intention to mislead anyone. They said city officials had told her to mark “U.S. citizen” when no other option was available. Prosecutors, however, contend that Smith deliberately and falsely claimed citizenship, pointing to forms that explicitly warned that only citizens were eligible to vote.
American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where people born there are not automatically granted citizenship. Instead, they are considered U.S. nationals and may serve in the military, obtain U.S. passports, and vote in American Samoa, but they cannot hold public office or vote in most U.S. elections. Charges have also been brought against ten other people from American Samoa in the small community of Whittier, including Smith's husband and mother-in-law.
Smith's attorney, Neil Weare of the Right to Democracy Project, said that if the indictment is allowed to stand, Alaska would be “the only state to our knowledge with such a low bar for felony voter fraud.”
