U.S. Virgin Islands Delegate Stacey Plaskett (D) halted the vote for Speaker of the House last Friday to highlight a critical issue affecting all five U.S. territories: the absence of voting rights for their inhabitants.
“I have a parliamentary inquiry,” she began. “I noticed that the names of representatives from American Samoa, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and the District of Columbia were not called, representing a total of 4 million Americans.” She fell silent as House Democrats, including House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, House Democratic Caucus Chair Pet Aguilar, and Democratic Caucus Vice-Chair Ted Lieu, who were seated close to Plaskett, stood up and applauded.
“Mr. Speaker, we represent collectively the highest per capita of veterans in this nation,” she continued. “I inquire as to why they were not acknowledged.”
The Acting Clerk of the House responded that “Delegates-elect and the resident commissioner-elect are not eligible to vote.” He cited the House Rules and Manual.
The Rules clarify that “[t]he Speaker is elected by a majority of Members-elect voting by surname.”
Plaskett retorted, “This body and this nation has a territorial and colonial issue. What was meant to be a temporary status has effectively transitioned into permanence. We must address this issue to ensure that these four million Americans –” at this juncture, Plaskett’s microphone was silenced. The rest of her comments were overshadowed by loud applause from Democratic Members of Congress.
The Speaker of the House
The Speaker of the House is the presiding officer of the House of Representatives within the U.S. Congress. Prior to the commencement of a new Congress, all individuals designated as Members of Congress in the subsequent year — the Members-elect — cast votes to elect a Speaker. Traditionally, the clerk announces the names of all Members-elect in alphabetical order, and each Member calls out their preferred candidate’s name.
Representative Plaskett observed that neither she nor the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico or other territorial delegates were acknowledged during the voting process.
The territories issue
Only state representatives are permitted to cast votes on the House floor. The non-voting delegates, including the Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico, can only vote within House committees. In certain administrations, they may be granted a symbolic vote on the floor; however, if their vote influences the outcome, a new vote is conducted without their participation. They do not possess a substantive vote on final legislation approved by the House of Representatives.
This regulation reflects the U.S. Constitution. Article 1, Section 2 states, “The House of Representatives shall be composed of Members chosen every second year by the People of the several States.” Yet, territorial delegates did not exist when the Constitution was drafted and are not recognized as part of “the several States” in the document. The roles of delegate and resident commissioner emerged later as the territories integrated into the American framework, and the specifics of their more restricted representation developed gradually. Delegates were granted committee votes in 1904, but the Constitution has never been amended to offer U.S. territories full democratic representation.
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