STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
As we talk about polls opening across the United States on this election morning, let's note that for one group of American citizens, Election Day has already come and gone. The people of the U.S. territory of Guam do not have any say in the presidential election, but that does not stop them from making their preferences known. KPRG's Naina Rao has this report.
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NAINA RAO, BYLINE: Election Day is a bustling event in Guam. Billboards of local candidates adorn every street corner of the island's 217 square miles - roughly the size of Chicago. There are 170,000 American citizens living here, like veteran Jesus Benavente (ph), who didn't mind sharing his pick for president.
JESUS BENAVENTE: Kamala, of course. I'm very interested in her, and she's very fast forward.
RAO: Along with the rest of Guam's voters and the 4 million other disenfranchised Americans living in U.S. territories, his vote doesn't count. It's a symbolic straw poll. As an unincorporated territory, Guam has limited political influence, despite its strategic importance. The island sits closer to Beijing than Washington, and it's home to significant military infrastructure. Robert Underwood is Guam's former congressional delegate.
ROBERT UNDERWOOD: The United States cannot project power into that level of competition without Guam. So the last thing that any military planner or any federal official who is very much concerned about this - the last thing they want to do is to ask Guam, what do you think ought to happen?
RAO: Because according to Underwood, it would risk Washington's defense agenda in the Indo-Pacific region. Kenneth Gofigan Kuper is a political science professor at the University of Guam.
KENNETH GOFIGAN KUPER: I think our role as this strategic military hub will be greatly affected by who's in charge as commander-in-chief.
MIKE PANGELINAN: You know, it's a huge feeling of unfairness.
RAO: That's Mike Pangelinan. He used to live in California, where he had full voting rights, before moving to Guam, where he doesn't. That's why he votes in every presidential straw poll, even though he knows it doesn't count.
PANGELINAN: Maybe it's nostalgic, 'cause it reminds me of actually the times when I actually have been able to vote for president. And I hope at some point, maybe I will again.
RAO: For University of Guam student Nicole Duenas, voting is about getting the U.S. to pay attention.
NICOLE DUENAS: I believe that if we have more people willing to participate in elections and voting, that's our way of saying that we are here as a territory, and we don't want to stay as a territory.
RAO: As the polls open on the mainland, people in Guam have voted in another presidential race, hoping their voices will be heard - even if only symbolically.
Naina Rao, NPR News, Guam. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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