Amata Welcomes Closure for US Nationals in Alaska Voting Case

September 16, 2026 Press Release Washington, D.C. – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming closure for 11 U.S. Nationals in Whittier, Alaska, who had been facing changes regarding past votes in a local election in Alaska. Alaska prosecutors decided to drop the charges against them, after nearly three years of legal defense resulting from their votes. “I’m relieved for our people in Alaska and glad to hear their case is over,” said Congresswoman Amata. Amata had publicly called for forgiveness and restoration for the defendants, stating at the time, “I hope the wonderful people of Alaska, where I’ve visited many times, will be forgiving of this mistake by the local U.S. nationals in their community. Rather, I hope that this can become an educational moment, that the Lord can ‘work together for good’ by preventing future problems through public awareness, while restoring our people in Alaska with compassion.” Legislatively, Amata has introduced the American Samoa Statutory Nationality and Citizenship Act (H.R. 6158) to help individual U.S. nationals more readily transfer into U.S. citizenship as a personal choice, while not affecting American Samoa’s current status, which for over 126 years has protected the family land and chiefly (matai) systems within the traditional fa’a Samoa (Samoan way). This week in Washington, Amata had a meeting with a key lawmaker to highlight the merits of her bill and build a foundation for future passage. “It’s a thorny issue to explain in DC, but we’re building a groundwork, and I’m optimistic,” Amata said. Her bill would protect both collective self-determination for American Samoa and the individual rights of U.S. nationals, by improving access to elective United States citizenship for individuals born in American Samoa as U.S. nationals. In January, Aumua Amata had put out an awareness PSA reminding U.S. Nationals never to vote in other jurisdictions, no matter how long they had lived there, unless they had personally become citizens before voting. Amata closed with a similar reminder. “U.S. Nationals can only vote in American Samoa, not the rest of the United States. If you want to vote elsewhere, you must pursue and complete citizenship first. It’s especially important to make sure your recent graduates who are U.S. nationals know this clearly when they turn 18 and possibly relocate for college, jobs, or military,” Aumua Amata concluded. “It’s our way to obey the law where we live, so be mindful of these facts, unless a state or jurisdiction were to ever expressly provide that U.S. nationals also may vote in elections in that specific state or locality.” ### Issues : Judiciary