It was surely stunning for Waianae Republican Sailau Timoteo to learn she is disqualified from running for state House, because her American Samoan birthplace makes her a U.S. national but not a U.S. citizen.

Setting aside how nobody noticed that until this late date, it is a puzzling territorial distinction, upheld in federal court, that now affects only American Samoa.

Some Samoans fear that birthright citizenship would negate cultural aspects such as its communal land system, and so they prefer the status quo.

Meanwhile, Timoteo has no vote on this, and that’s unfortunate.