Alaska drops cases against American Samoans who checked ‘US citizen’ on voter form

Group no longer faces voter misconduct case over wrongly marked box after appeals court throws out felony charges

Alaska prosecutors are dropping voter misconduct cases against a group of residents born in American Samoa after a state appeals court threw out felony charges against a woman who wrongly checked a box saying she was a US citizen.

The state's department of law announced the decision on Friday, after a three-judge court of appeals panel ruled a week earlier that state law requires proof that defendants who erroneously filled out voter registration forms had a consciousness of wrongdoing" and intended to break the law.