Davis’s case holds that this requirement violates the 14th and 15th amendments of the U.S. Constitution, as well as the Organic Act itself, which states that “no discrimination shall be made in Guam against any person on account of race, language, or religion, nor shall the equal protection of the laws be denied.”
Retired Air Force Major Dave Davis is suing Guam, a U.S. territory, for barring him from voting because of his race.
Davis first brought the case in 2011, after attempting to register as part of Guam’s “decolonization registry”–the body vested with the political power to vote on Guam’s relationship with the United States. Guam is currently what is known as an “unincorporated” U.S. territory. Its residents are U.S. citizens and its elected delegate to the U.S. House of Representatives can serve on committees, but cannot vote.
Many in Guam want it to become an official U.S. commonwealth like Puerto Rico, but current Guamanian law dictates that only Chamorros, Guam’s indigenous population, can vote on changing its political status. To be allowed to vote on such matters, a Guamanian must first register with the decolonization registry, “an index of names established by the Guam Election Commission for the purposes of registering and recording the names of the native inhabitants of Guam eligible to vote in an election or plebiscite for self-determination.”
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