Residency and voters rights in South Dakota

[Community Alumni]

OK Let me try this:

Proposed bills House Bill 1232 and Senate Bill 124 contain language which will affect RVers who use South Dakota for their domicile, but most importantly will impede their right to vote.

Sponsored by Karla Lems, a District 16 Republican, HB1232 declares “the term, residence, means the place in which a person has fixed the person’s habitation and to which the person, whenever absent, intends to return.” Additionally, the bill states “no person may register to vote using a business location or campground as a registration address.”

Introduced by Julie Frye-Mueller, a Republican from District 30, SB124 is to “ensure that the address provided in the voter registration application is confirmed as a residence and not a commercial or industrial address…”

This is not the first time that South Dakota has had legislation along these lines introduced. Fortunately, similar bills have not been voted into law in the past. There may be a need to reach out to SD legislators. These bills are not out of committee yet.


House Bill 1232, Representative Karla Lems- Karla.Lems@sdlegislature.gov

Senate Bull 124, Senator Julie Frye-Mueller- Julie.FryeMueller@sdlegislature.gov

South Dakota proposes law to end full-time RVers’ domicile, voting rights

South Dakota has long been recognized as a haven for full-time RVers. With no state income tax, low fees on vehicle registration and other privileges, many RVers from other states have “set up shop” with one of the state’s many private mailbox services to officially establish residency there. But proposed legislation, if passed, will likely end such benefits for both existing and future full-timers.

Both a House and Senate bill would, for example, if passed as written, wipe out a full-time RVer’s ability to vote in the Mount Rushmore state. The other bill would essentially ban anyone from establishing residency there unless they actually lived in the state.

Just FYI

JimR

[JRscooby]

Never thought about it before, but where are full timers counted on the censes?

[valhalla360]

stickdog wrote:
Strange so many against democracy and the right to vote. Hell, Walaby wants only land owners to be able to vote. Do I see any hands for a poll tax? Hey we tried that allowing women to vote how is that working? Glad this bunch isn't writing the voting laws.

Lots of hyperbole but ethically, should you be voting in a location where you don't reside (reside in reality not by legal technicality).

Certainly not for local elections and even national elections are questionable since it dilutes the votes of actual residents for federal representation. This is particularly an issue in lower population states where a few thousand out of state voters can sway statewide elections.

[Walaby]

cptqueeg wrote:

Who votes is important and I don't quite know why SD makes/made it so easy to become residents, but the money flowing around the country that's virtually uncontrolled (super pacs) is where the real out of town/state/country power lies.

I agree.

Mike

[cptqueeg]

Walaby wrote:

Thanks wnjj - as you pointed out, nowhere did I say one has to own land to vote. As members of this site, we are simply a microcosm of society as a whole. So, it stands to reason that the same sort of over-reaction to differing opinions occurs here.

If I were a local resident, I would not appreciate people influencing the decisions made at a local level, simply because they have a PO Box within the precinct, town, municipality, or whatever. It can happen regardless of your political affiliation. It should be something we all care about.

That said, there should be some way for full timers in this position to be able to vote for President. Not sure how to pull that off though.

Mike

Who votes is important and I don't quite know why SD makes/made it so easy to become residents, but the money flowing around the country that's virtually uncontrolled (super pacs) is where the real out of town/state/country power lies.

[Walaby]

wnjj wrote:

stickdog wrote:
Strange so many against democracy and the right to vote. Hell, Walaby wants only land owners to be able to vote. Do I see any hands for a poll tax? Hey we tried that allowing women to vote how is that working? Glad this bunch isn't writing the voting laws.

You’re reading way too much into what Walaby wrote. Residence does not equal land owner and is also a perfectly common sense requirement for voting. How else do you attach one person to one vote? Seems very democratic to me.

We are also a constitutional republic, not a democracy.

Thanks wnjj - as you pointed out, nowhere did I say one has to own land to vote. As members of this site, we are simply a microcosm of society as a whole. So, it stands to reason that the same sort of over-reaction to differing opinions occurs here.

If I were a local resident, I would not appreciate people influencing the decisions made at a local level, simply because they have a PO Box within the precinct, town, municipality, or whatever. It can happen regardless of your political affiliation. It should be something we all care about.

That said, there should be some way for full timers in this position to be able to vote for President. Not sure how to pull that off though.

Mike

[JRscooby]

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?

[Bobbo]

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.

In my jurisdiction, at least, the sample ballot is available online before the election. Getting an absentee ballot is not required to become an educated voter.

[pbeverly]

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.

[bucky]

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

[wnjj]

stickdog wrote:
Strange so many against democracy and the right to vote. Hell, Walaby wants only land owners to be able to vote. Do I see any hands for a poll tax? Hey we tried that allowing women to vote how is that working? Glad this bunch isn't writing the voting laws.

You’re reading way too much into what Walaby wrote. Residence does not equal land owner and is also a perfectly common sense requirement for voting. How else do you attach one person to one vote? Seems very democratic to me.

We are also a constitutional republic, not a democracy.

[Bobbo]

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.

In the 1700's and early 1800's, only landed gentry (land owners) could vote. Do you really want to go back to that? Do you not think folks who rent property should have a vote? What about "universal suffrage"?

[stickdog]

Strange so many against democracy and the right to vote. Hell, Walaby wants only land owners to be able to vote. Do I see any hands for a poll tax? Hey we tried that allowing women to vote how is that working? Glad this bunch isn't writing the voting laws.

[JRscooby]

ferndaleflyer wrote:
Make Election Day a national holiday, only day to vote, only mail ins are military. Do away with all the other BS. Vote at your REAL home. Full timers show up where you “call” home to vote register your vehicles, get drivers license, etc like I do.

Whenever I see Make Election Day a National Holiday my first thought is somebody does not pay attention to local elections, or how national elections work. Where I live, the next election is April 4, 2023. (Last year I worked 4 elections). How can you have primary election on the same day as general?
Then there is the issue of "holiday". How many people would take off Monday, so could have a 4 day weekend?
"only mail ins are military." Implies you either don't know that a lot of other important jobs are done by people that can't get home, or you prefer working class don't vote. (Once I had to stand in a unexpected line to vote early. Bunch of power company workers had been called to head south, responding to a hurricane. Should their voices not count?)

Last election I worked, there where several issues on the ballot, plus the mid-terms. We had a limited number of places for people to mark ballot, so I kind of watched the time each voter was taking between check in, and dropping ballot in box. Could tell, some knew who where going to vote for, had studied the issues on sample ballot, would mark the whole thing in less than 10 minutes. Others, where surprised by the issues, and local candidates that had not been called evil by ads (no party affiliation on ballot in local races) The ones that take citizenship duties seriously might take over 45 minutes reading, researching with phone, and marking. Then there was a 3rd group; Ads had told them who was evil, so they could mark that part quickly, but the rest of the ballot? More than once we heard THEY EXPECT US TO READ ALL THIS SNOT? (Insert more health word) I feel the third group would rather be ruled than represented, if required any work on their part. But don't think the other 2 groups would vote much different if where mailing it in.

[Walaby]

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

[ferndaleflyer]

Make Election Day a national holiday, only day to vote, only mail ins are military. Do away with all the other BS. Vote at your REAL home. Full timers show up where you “call” home to vote register your vehicles, get drivers license, etc like I do.