Making the case for voting rights

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at the Organization of American States has agreed to the request last month from myself and other insular area representatives for a hearing in the case of Roselló v. United States. We also filed as friends of the court in this case in March. Puerto Rico’s Governor Pedro Rosseló is arguing that the United States violates its international law commitments by failing to ensure full democratic participation for the nearly 4 million U.S. citizens living in non-state areas of the U.S. We cannot vote for President; and we do not have full, voting representation in the U.S. Congress. The Commission’s decision to hold a hearing — on Friday, October 5, in Boulder, Colorado — is an unexpected opportunity to highlight the lack of voting rights in U.S. non-state areas at both national and international levels.