Alaska Drops Voter Misconduct Cases Against American Samoans After Appeals Ruling

Alaska prosecutors are abandoning voter misconduct cases against a group of residents born in American Samoa, following a state appeals court decision that overturned felony charges against one woman who had incorrectly checked a box identifying herself as a U.S. citizen.

The Department of Law announced the decision on Friday, a week after a three-judge Court of Appeals panel ruled that state law requires proof a defendant who erroneously filled out a voter registration form acted with a "consciousness of wrongdoing" and intended to violate the law.

The panel identified problems with a state trooper's questioning of Tupe Smith, the woman at the center of the thrown-out case, as well as with the grand jury process that produced her indictment. It reversed a lower court decision that had allowed the charges against her to proceed.

Acting Attorney General Cori Mills said in a statement that after reviewing the ruling and applying the facts, prosecutors determined they could not prove the cases against Smith and the others beyond a reasonable doubt. Smith's husband, Michael Pese, had also been charged.

"We respect the role of the courts in interpreting Alaska law and will faithfully execute our duty to apply the law and carefully evaluate our prosecutorial decisions," Mills said.

Smith's lawyer, Whitney Brown, welcomed the appeals court decision last week, saying it "establishes an important safeguard against imposing felony liability for an honest mistake." Brown said the court made clear that Alaska law demands more than a showing that a statement was false, requiring proof that a person acted with a consciousness of wrongdoing.

In total, 11 people from Whittier, a small community about 50 miles (820 kilometers) southeast of Anchorage, faced charges of falsely claiming U.S. citizenship when registering to vote or attempting to vote. Messages seeking comment were left for their lawyers.

American Samoa is the only U.S. territory where birth on the soil does not confer automatic citizenship; residents are instead considered U.S. nationals. Citizenship can be obtained through naturalization, though the process can be costly and cumbersome. American Samoans may serve in the military, hold U.S. passports and vote in American Samoa elections, but they cannot hold public office in the United States or participate in most U.S. elections.

Smith was arrested after winning election to a regional school board in 2023. She has said she relied on incorrect information from election officials in Whittier when she identified herself as a U.S. citizen on voter registration forms. Smith said she marks herself as a U.S. national on paperwork, but when that option was unavailable on voter registration forms, city representatives told her it was appropriate to mark herself as a citizen, according to court papers.

Prosecutors had argued that Smith falsely and deliberately claimed citizenship, pointing to warnings on voter registration forms she completed in 2020 and 2022 stating that noncitizens "are not eligible to vote." The Court of Appeals panel noted that near the end of a police interview, a state trooper posed a long compound question implying Smith knew she was ineligible to vote but wanted to be involved in the school board. When Smith, whose native language is not English, did not answer immediately, another trooper clarified, "He's asking you," and the first trooper repeated the question, which the panel described as a lengthy and complex statement containing four individual questions. Smith answered "Yes," leading to her arrest and indictment on two counts of felony voter misconduct.