| Elections in American Samoa |
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TheAmerican Samoan Legislature orFono hastwo chambers, theHouse of Representatives and theSenate, which has a directly electedhead of government, theGovernor of American Samoa.
TheHouse of Representatives has 21 members, all elected for a two-year term. Fourteen of them are from single-seatdistricts, six are from dual-seatdistricts, and one is elected by a public meeting onSwain Island. TheSenate has 18 members, elected for a four-year term by and from the chiefs of the islands. TheGovernor and their deputy, theLieutenant Governor, are elected to a four-year term with alimit of two terms as governor.
Although individuals can and do affiliate with political parties, elections are held on anon-partisan basis, and candidates run without party labels.[1][2] The governor and lieutenant governor are elected on a shared ticket.
As aU.S. territory, American Samoa also votes to send anon-voting delegate to theUS House of Representatives, fromAmerican Samoa's at-large congressional district. The official head of state is thePresident of the United States. While American Samoans can vote in party primaries, they cannot vote in the general presidential election.
In2020, incumbent delegate to the U.S. House of RepresentativesAmata Coleman Radewagen won re-election to a fourth term with 83.3 percent of the votes.
Also in2020, Lieutenant GovernorLemanu Peleti Mauga was elected governor, replacing the term-limitedLolo Matalasi Moliga.
In2018, a referendum seeking to amend the local constitution, and give the legislature the authority to override the governor's veto instead of the U.S. Secretary of Interior as happens now, was defeated.
In 2001, CongressmanEni Faleomavaega announced the introduction federal legislation to protect the voting rights of active duty military members whose home of residence is American Samoa.[3] There have also been proposals to grant American Samoa a vote in the United States Congress, but these would likely face similar constitutional questions as proposals to grant theDistrict of Columbiafull representation in Congress.
State legislation related to the administration of elections introduced in 2011 through this year, 2020
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