Ten people from Whittier charged with illegal voting made initial court appearances Friday — a routine procedure in a case that has the potential to be anything but.
The 10 were born in American Samoa. That gives them the unique status of being U.S. nationals, born on American soil and holders of U.S. passports, but not citizens. A group called Right to Democracy is championing their case.
“If they had been born instead in another U.S. territory — like Guam or the Virgin Islands or the District of Columbia — or Alaska, they would not be in this situation, facing criminal legal peril today,” said Neil Weare, co-founder of the group.
Right to Democracy advocates for people born in U.S. territories and is part of the legal team representing a previous Whittier defendant: Tupe Smith. She was arrested in 2023 and charged with illegal voting and related felonies after she won election to her local school board. Her challenge is before the state Court of Appeals.
Meanwhile, last fall Alaska State Troopers investigated Smith’s husband and other members of their extended family in Whittier. The state brought fraud and perjury charges against the 10 defendants last month.
Some, according to the charging documents, told officers they thought they could vote in state and local elections but not for president.
The case could draw a national spotlight for reasons that go beyond election outcomes in Whittier.
It is already wrapped up in a larger constitutional question about whether people born in U.S. territories have a birthright to citizenship. Weare sees that as a central issue in the Whittier cases and said it may be part of the defense.
“It is the state's burden to prove every element of the alleged offense, and one of those elements is that they're not a citizen of the United States,” he said. “We don't believe they'll be able to prove that under the Constitution.”
The case has a different import for right-wing bloggers. That’s because, despite a lack of proof, it’s a widely held belief among supporters of President Trump that non-citizens voted in massive numbers in 2020.
The Whittier case doesn’t fit the stolen-election narrative well. Many of the defendants didn’t vote in presidential election years. And Trump swept tiny Whittier in in 2020, winning 74 votes — more than double the vote total of Joe Biden. At least one of the Whittier defendants is an ardent Trump fan, to judge by his Facebook posts.
Michael Pese is Tupe Smith’s husband and accused of voting in 2022 and 2023. He said he loved the town of Whittier and loved serving as a volunteer firefighter there. But, he said, the charges have changed his feelings.
“After everything is done, I don't know if I want to stay back in Whittier, because I feel unwelcome,” he said.
Prosecutors say the state built the case against Pese and the other defendants after receiving an anonymous tip that non-citizens were voting in Whittier.
