Letter to the Hon. Kenneth Gittens, Senate President of the Legislature of the Virgin Islands - Congresswoman Stacey Plaskett Sends Letter to The VI Legislature Urging a Discussion on The Virgin Islands Political Status with The United States

Letter

Dear Senate President Gittens:

On June 28th of last year, I sent a letter to Senate President Myron Jackson and Joint Board of Elections Chair Arturo Watlington to ask what. if any, mechanisms are being utilized to obtain the meaningful position of the people of the Virgin Islands as to the political status of the territory.

Last week, the House of Representatives passed the For the People Act of 2019 (H.R. I which contained provisions to advance the issue of voting rights of U.S. citizens in the territories. Under the bill, Congress finds that residents of the territories have played an important part in the American democracy for more than 120 years; that political participation and the right to vote are among the highest concerns of territorial residents, in part because they were not always afforded these rights; that voting participation in the territories consistently ranks higher than many mainland communities; and that the right to vote is one of the most powerful instruments that residents of the territories have to ensure that their voices are heard. Accordingly, the bill would establish a Congressional Task Force on Voting Rights of United States Citizen Residents of Territories of the United States. The Task Force would gather findings and issue a report to Congress with recommendations to address the disenfranchisement of Americans in the territories.

Meanwhile, cases have been progressing in the federal courts to decide whether the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment extends birthright citizenship to those born in unincorporated territory of the United States. Certainly, the voting power of Americans in the Virgin Islands, along with the other territories, is linked in part to the political status of the islands as unincorporated territory of the United States.

With such movement on the federal level, I would like to reiterate my request that the government of the Virgin Islands begin structured education and discourse related to a mechanism to obtain the meaningful consent of the Virgin Islands to its political status, and an eventual referendum on the issue of status within the United States. I am more than willing to use my position in Washington, DC to support this process.

Thank you for your consideration and I look forward to your reply.

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