Luis Segovia is a proud Army veteran who has repeatedly put his life on the line to defend America's democratic and constitutional values. But when Luis moved from Illinois to Guam, he had no idea that he would lose his right to vote for President and voting representation in Congress. The same would be true if he had moved to Puerto Rico or the U.S. Virgin Islands.

But had Luis instead moved to the Northern Mariana Islands or American Samoa - both also U.S. territories -  or even to a foreign country like Korea, federal and state overseas voting laws would have protected his right to vote. 

This isn't just wrong, it's unconstitutional. 

Joining Luis in his Supreme Court appeal in Segovia v. United States are Vietnam-era veterans Jose Antonio Torres and Tomas Ares in Puerto Rico and community organizer Lavonne Wise and defense attorney Pam Colon in the U.S. Virgin Islands. 

Since Hurricanes Maria and Irma, they have seen first hand the impact disenfranchisement has on federal responsiveness to the needs of their communities. Unequal treatment in federal benefits programs contribute to fiscal instability and threaten the health and well-being of these Americans.  More than ever, the right to vote in U.S. territories has become a matter of life and death.

Please donate now if you agree it's time to bring an end to the second-class status of Americans living in U.S. territories.

With your help, we can bring the issue of disenfranchisement in U.S. territories to the U.S. Supreme Court. No U.S. citizen should be denied voting rights simply because of where they live.

Momentum is already building, with Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands Bar Association, and a group of prominent voting rights scholars filing friend-of-the-court briefs asking the Court to take up the case. And the Supreme Court requested a response from Defendants, which shows the Court is taking the case seriously.

Your support now will help keep that momentum going so that we can recruit more amicus briefs, file our reply, and raise as much public attention as possible between now and late September, when the Supreme Court will consider whether to take the case.

Learn more about the case on our website here.

If you'd like even more reasons to contribute, a few years back we worked closely with HBO's Last Week Tonight with John Oliver to help them explain why every American should care about voting rights in U.S. territories. Check it out:

Equally American LDEF (formerly We the People Project) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization, so all contributions are tax deductible to the full extent of the law.