Disqualified candidate in the Manu’a District #1 House election, Aliitama Sotoa knows he’s running out of time to get his name on the ballot for next Tuesday’s election.
With just a week before the midterm election, Sotoa vows that if the Election Office doesn’t agree to put his name on the ballot, he will take the matter to court.
Attorneys representing Sotoa, Louise Ing, Hawaii and Sean Morrison, a former deputy attorney general licensed to practice law in the territory, have written to Chief Election Officer, Dr. Lealofi Uiagalelei saying, “ You had no legal basis for removing him from the ballot; and your action in doing so was not only arbitrary and capricious, but in violation of American Samoa Law.”
The attorneys spell out, in an October 26 letter, which they say was written after Sotoa met several times with the Chief Election Officer, his deputy and the Election Office attorney, that Sotoa has fulfilled all requirements of the law in filing his candidacy with the required 25 signatures of voters from his district, and the prescribed documents. And he did so by the September 1st deadline.
But while Sotoa was in San Diego for healthcare purposes, he received an emailed letter dated September 27th stating that, “After several efforts to secure and collect documents in order to meet your House of Representatives candidacy requirements for the November 8 midterm election, to no avail, I have made the decision to withdraw your name from the official ballot for Representative District #1, Manu’a effective September 27.”
The attorneys wrote, that the letter from Dr. Uiagalelei did not specify the documents he was referring to. It took a phone call from Sotoa to the Election Office staff to learn that the Election Office was expecting documents relating to Sotoa’s medical appointments. The attorneys noted that these are not required under American Samoa election laws and regulations.
But nonetheless, said the attorneys, Sotoa on September 30 informed the Election Office he would upload the medical documents and will bring the hard copies to the Election Office when he returned to American Samoa on October 3rd. And on October 4th, he hand carried the documents along with his doctors note, in person, to the Election Office.
The attorneys said that for two weeks, Sotoa had separate one on one meetings with Dr. Uiagalelei, Deputy Chief Election Officer Fiti Tavai and attorney Faoa Aitofele Sunia in efforts to resolve his predicament.
Summing up a meeting Sotoa had with Dr. Uiagalelei, the attorneys said, “You incorrectly stated to Sotoa that there’s a clause somewhere in the law that says I have the discretion to make decisions on my own and me alone.” And Sotoa’s response was, “If that’s the case, since you have all the documents you can use that same discretion to reinstate my candidacy.”
Attornies Ing and Morrison told Dr. Uiagalelei, the law did not give him the authority to begin investigations into candidates or request private medical documents to prove their qualifications. Rather, the process for challenging qualifications is outlined in ASCA 6.0302 and it does not originate with the Election Office.
They reiterated that even though election law did not require Sotoa to provide his medical documents, he hand delivered them anyway to the Election Office when he returned after his medical appointments, as a matter of courtesy.
The attorneys pointed out that if the disqualification of Sotoa was based on residency, the grounds are “utterly insufficient.” They cited, “ASCA 6.0212 is clear that the residency of person is that place in which his habitation is fixed and to which, whenever he is absent he has the intention to return. There’s no evidence that Sotoa’s medical treatment off island, somehow, undermined his intention to return to terminate his residence. If anything, his qualifying for elected office was overwhelming evidence that he intended to return home.”
Sotoa’s attorneys reiterated their request that Sotoa “immediately be qualified as a candidate and that his name be included in the midterm election ballot…”
They asked, “Please confirm to us by or before noon AS time on Friday, October 28, that you have done so to avoid violations of American Samoa law and violations of the duties of Chief Election Officer.”
Their letter was sent to Dr. Uiagalelei, after Sotoa was informed by the Chief Election Officer that the decision to disqualify him as a candidate in the November 8 election will remain.
“The decision to disqualify Mr. Ali’itama Sotoa as a candidate is based on law,” said the Chief Election Officer. “By trusting Mr. Sotoa’s assurance to comply with residency requirements, he was given a chance and his name was printed on the ballot for 7 days beyond expiration date. The trust was misplaced.”
Sotoa told KHJ News that he will fight the injustice handed him by the Election Office “every which way,” as a matter of principal — “even if it’s after the election.”
