Article in Rapid City, SD. today

[bobsallyh]

Interesting article about voter registration in Pennington County, SD. Supposedly 162 voters use their address  as the Rapid City Walmart.

 http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/local/pennington-county-voters-list-walmart-as-address/article_37a5c1e3-bee5-56a0-9846-6016eb4fb2be.html#tracking-source=home-top-story-2

[trailertraveler]

And the link to RVing is: 

Quote

Current Auditor Julie Pearson, who is not seeking re-election, said the practice of registering to vote with a north-side Walmart address originated many years ago with people who traveled full-time in recreational vehicles and sometimes stayed overnight in Walmart parking lots.

 

[Kirk W]

Wonder if they will try to block those folks from voting in SD, much like happened to Escapees back about 1999?

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

That was the attempt in 2016 and it failed, big time.

[Kirk W]

2016 on SD or Escapees? I wasn't aware of that.

[Twotoes]

I use the Escapees SD address and voted by mail in 2016

 

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

It was in the article.  A Rapid City congressman wanted to deny voting to people not physically in the area.

[dewilso]

Rapid City has never impressed me as real RV friendly I was stationed there in ‘70, formed the impression then & reinforced it often since.

[Jim & Alice]

We've summered here the last four years... Hart Ranch RV Resort... quite friendly.

[Kirk W]

12 hours ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

A Rapid City congressman wanted to deny voting to people not physically in the area.

Could be a politician just looking for some sort of campaign issue? 

[docj]

If you read through the article, the voters registered at the Walmart address date from an era before the existence of the SD mail services and the use of the affidavit that all of us traveling SD residents now have to sign.  The article says that the number registered as living at Walmart used to be much larger.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

The politician that wanted to exclude "virtual" residents from voting was afraid that those voters could skew the direction of the local economies for themselves.  What the politician missed that he was proposing the very thing the United States broke away from England.  We RVers don't pay a lot of taxes in South Dakota but we do pay some and the politician was proposing taxation without representation.  He thought he had a cause but is was myopic.

[remoandiris]

16 hours ago, Kirk Wood said:

Wonder if they will try to block those folks from voting in SD, much like happened to Escapees back about 1999?

There was something in the article about being able to drop non-voters after a total of 8 yrs.  

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

I am in the camp of voting is a privilege that should be exercised.  I believe that if you skip a couple of elections, you should be removed from the voting list.

All voting lists are poorly maintained and something that we as a country should improve. 

 

[chirakawa]

18 minutes ago, Mark and Dale Bruss said:

The politician that wanted to exclude "virtual" residents from voting was afraid that those voters could skew the direction of the local economies for themselves.  What the politician missed that he was proposing the very thing the United States broke away from England.  We RVers don't pay a lot of taxes in South Dakota but we do pay some and the politician was proposing taxation without representation.  He thought he had a cause but is was myopic.

I don't particularly agree with your argument.  I travel quite a bit, as I'm sure you do also.  I pay taxes wherever I travel, yet I don't get any representation in those places on local issues.

I personally don't buy the argument that we RV'ers shouldn't get to vote because we don't actually live there.  However, I can certainly see the other side of the discussion and I don't see it as a "taxation without representation" issue.  The issue I see is that folks who come into a small community and flood the area with voters who have tremendous influence over that area, yet don't have anything at stake can be scary to locals. 

The example already mentioned is a good one.  Polk County, TX is a conservative small community in the Bible Belt of East Texas.  There you have thousands of people from other areas of the country who come in, establish residency, and essentially have the power to elect all local officials.  These "outside" voters may or may not necessarily share the same values of those who actually live and work in the area, the people who are actually being directly affected by those elections.  You must admit that can be scary and cause resentment among the locals.

So far, the residents of Polk County and their "virtual" neighbors seem to get along fairly well.  Escapees has shown itself to be an asset to the community and the locals appear to appreciate that.  However, I can see where they are just one local referendum or one school bond vote away from serious conflict.

I'm not suggesting that RV'ers who establish residency somewhere shouldn't get to vote, I'm simply saying that it's not as cut and dry simple as some want to make it.  JMO

[Dutch_12078]

Keep in mind there can be a significant difference between "residency" and "domicile".

[SnowGypsy]

Seriously, no one should be able to use Wal-Mart as their legal address.  Think it through slowly and realize the possibilities.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

We vote in every election in South Dakota but choose not to be careful of local issues.

But to cede the right to vote in local policies could lead to something like a property tax on a "virtual mailbox" to enhance local revenues.  Impossible?  Look back at the stunt done in Livingston a few years back to exclude any absentee ballots not verified is a few days of notification because the absentee ballots favored one political party.

Residency versus domicile.  Yes, we get just one place to vote from, or at least we should only have one place to vote from. 

You will note I said people needed to vote, I did not say they had to be present.

 

[Dutch_12078]

Apprently designating a Walmart parking lot as your residence for voter registration purposes would be legal:

Nonprofit VOTE

Can someone who is homeless register and vote?
Yes. Persons experiencing homelessness can register and vote in all 50 states.

What should this person list as his or her home address?
It is recommended homeless registrants list a shelter address as their voting address where they could receive mail. Alternatively, homeless registrants may denote a street corner or a park as their residence, in lieu of a traditional home address. The federal voter registration form and many state forms provide a space for this purpose.

[scouserl41]

Now apparently as well as a receipt for 1 night at a campground or hotel SD requires a piece of mail with your name and an address in SD in order to get a DL. That should effectively stop people using Walmart as an address.

We'll be renewing our DL's in 2019 so we'll see then what changes may be made.

BnB

[2gypsies]

I really doubt that those with mail forwarding address anywhere vote in local elections.... and they shouldn't. If you don't stay in that locale then you are not up-to-date on the people or issues.  By all means, vote in national elections.

[chirakawa]

51 minutes ago, 2gypsies said:

I really doubt that those with mail forwarding address anywhere vote in local elections.... and they shouldn't. If you don't stay in that locale then you are not up-to-date on the people or issues.  By all means, vote in national elections.

Not sure what you mean.  Are you saying that they should only vote for President?  Aren't all other elections either local or State?

[docj]

6 hours ago, scouserl41 said:

Now apparently as well as a receipt for 1 night at a campground or hotel SD requires a piece of mail with your name and an address in SD in order to get a DL.

Something to keep in mind when you go for renewal, we were told that the pieces of mail (we were told we needed two each) had to have dated cancellations or "meter" stamps. Bulk mail or any mail with undated postage wasn't acceptable.  This was, of course, to meet the requirement that the mail had to be from within one year from the date of the license renewal.

FWIW, just for the fun of it, we went to Madison SD for our renewal so we could say hello to Terri who runs the MyDakotaAddress office there.  She "presented us" with everything we needed to take to the licensing office other than the CG/hotel receipt that we had provided.  I'm sure the other mail forwarding outfits would do the same.

[2gypsies]

9 hours ago, chirakawa said:

Not sure what you mean.  Are you saying that they should only vote for President?  Aren't all other elections either local or State?

If you don't actually live where your domicile address is, such as, perhaps, Livingston, TX, I don't feel it the right thing to do to vote in the local elections if you don't know the people you're voting for or don't know the issues involved.  This even goes for state elections if you are never in the state and don't keep up with those involved.

[oldbutspry]

20 hours ago, 2gypsies said:

I really doubt that those with mail forwarding address anywhere vote in local elections.... and they shouldn't. If you don't stay in that locale then you are not up-to-date on the people or issues.  By all means, vote in national elections.

It's too bad they don't make any sort of information system whereby a person could research topics of interest in other locations.  I bet a person could make a lot of money inventing something like that.