Residency and voters rights in South Dakota

wnjj wrote:


We are also a constitutional republic, not a democracy.

I have always wanted somebody to explain this statement in a way I, with less than 8th grade education, can understand. If I look at a list of UN member countries the word "republic" appears in names of countries we normally refer to as Russia, China, Iran, and N Korea.

bucky wrote:
With the clowns, crooks, and liars in office at all levels we may just as well have a dart throwing election.

I have to ask. Is this the fault of the clowns, crooks, and liars or the people that don't vote, or don't educate themselves before voting?
Democracy is not a spectator sport.

pbeverly wrote:
I have been voting absentee for a few years now and would never go back to in person. I get my ballot a few weeks in a advance and take the time to research everyone on the ballot and others items that I may be voting on. It allows me the opportunity to truly be an INFORMED voter. In the past I would know who/what I was going to vote for on the major things but now I can really research down the the school board level. I can check to see when my ballot was mailed to, see when they get it back and see when it is actually counted.

I think this is the way all should vote. If not by mail, at least get the sample ballot in time to do the research, make a "cheat-sheet" if you need to, be ready to mark the ballot when show up.
I have a idea that if more people did this political advertising, (both paid, and much of what is called 'news') would be less effective. For example reporter puts mic in congresscritter's face to broadcast him bragging about how much good will come from whatever project is in background, but never asking the real question; If this is so good for the people of district, why did you vote against it?

Walaby wrote:
I think in order to vote in local and state elections (including Senator/Congressmen), then one should have a stick and brick residence in the state and community. Why should someone who only cares about not paying state income tax and pay for cheap motor vehicle registration get to help decide local and state issues and vote for representatives?

As retired military, I agree military members should always have the opportunity to vote absentee. I also feel there are probably other legitimate reasons for someone to need to vote absentee. If you're a full timer, Im fairly certain you can plan ahead to return to your state of residence and cast a vote every couple of years. But if someone is too lazy to vote in person every two years, then they are probably too lazy to research the issues.

There's also no real rationale in my opinion, for not being able to have a state issued license. Sorry, but a state college ID is issued by the college, not the state. And maybe Im wrong, but I don't think there's a citizenship check to issue a college ID. At least my granddaughter never had to prove citizenship to get her state college issued ID. It's really not too much to ask that we have provisions to ensure only US citizens get to vote in our elections.

I also love how, when there is a case of voter fraud, dead people voting etc, one of the first comments that are always uttered is "it wasn't enough to change the election". That's not the point. The only way to protect against voter fraud is to publicize it when it happens, punish those who commit it, and take steps to help keep it from happening again.

Mike

First, does SD only vote once every 2 years?

I think way to many people vote on only info from ads. And I agree non-citizens should not vote. (Not just US, but even non citizens of city/state should not vote in that city/state.) But we do not have national elections, so not sure where full timer should vote. Of course a ballot marked for president in SD counts more than 1 in many other states.
As for the ID requirements; Late 1955, I had to show my birth certificate to prove I was old enough to get DL. (No picture BTW) Many moves, home fire, life in general that piece of paper disappeared (Social Security card fell apart in basic training. But that number was used as name, so not issue for decades) After 9-11, I had to prove I was a citizen to keep my Hazmat endorsement. The money cost was not a big deal to me, but would probably paid for few days of what I ate. Likely a week or more food for some families. (My accountant let the cost go thru as deduction) And there was hours of time involved in getting it. And I had no issues with transportation. I can understand how somebody living on my SS check would have trouble keeping the right paper.
As for the few cases of fraud, votes that should not be cast. Yes I agree, stop each and punish them.
But with the understanding of how many votes can be influenced by a ad, shouldn't we spend as much time/money making sure the money that buys the ads only comes from people that have a right to vote in that election?