HI Court Says Lacks Power to Remedy Voting Rights Violation

In Reeves v. Nago, Former Hawaii Residents, the Plaintiffs, Lack Standing because Court Lacks the Power to Remedy a Voting Rights Violation

The Plaintiffs: Randall Jay Reeves, Vicente Topasna Borja, Edmund Frederick Schroeder, Jr., Ravinder Singh Nagi, Patricia Arroyo Rodriguez, Laura Castillo Nagi, and Equally American Legal and Defense and Education Fund, Challenge the Constitutionality of the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA), codified at 52 U.S.C. §§ 20301 to 20311, Hawaii’s Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act (UMOVA), codified at Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS) §§ 15D-1 to -18, and Hawai‘i Administrative Rules (HAR) § 3-177-600.

The Federal Defendants: United States of America, Lloyd J. Austin, III, Federal Voting Assistance Program, and David Beirne, seek Dismissal for Lack of Article III Standing, and the Court should Grant the Federal Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject-Matter Jurisdiction.

Plaintiffs allege that UOCAVA, UMOVA, and HAR § 3-177-600, preclude them from Voting in Hawaii by Absentee Ballot, for President and Hawaii’s U.S. Congressional Delegation, because they currently Reside in the Territorys.

Enacted in 1986, UOCAVA’s purpose was to “facilitate absentee voting by United States citizens, both military and civilian, who are overseas.” “States” and the Territorial use of “United States” include a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.

The Northern Mariana Islands (“NMI”), is Excluded from these Definitions.

Under U.S. Administration, as part of the UN Trust Territory of the Pacific, the People of the Northern Mariana Islands decided in the 1970s not to seek Independence but instead to forge Closer Links with the U.S. Negotiations for Territorial Status began in 1972. A Covenant to Establish a Commonwealth in Political union with the U..S was Approved in 1975, and came into Force on March 24th, 1976. A New Government and Constitution went into effect in 1978.

Oceania, Islands in the North Pacific Ocean, about Three-Quarters of the way from Hawaii to the Philippines.

CONCLUSION: Plaintiffs have not established the redressability element of standing. Accordingly, the Court GRANTS the Federal Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss for Lack of Subject-Matter Jurisdiction, ECF No. 74, as well as the Hawai‘i Defendants’ Joinders. ECF Nos. 78–80. However, the dismissal is with leave to amend. Plaintiffs’ deadline to file an amended complaint is May 14, 2021. IT IS SO ORDERED.

This looks like a clear Equal Protection Violation: Ex-Hawaiians being allowed to Vote Absentee if they move Abroad but Not if they move to U.S. Territories.










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