South Dakota voter's rights! (From Escapees Club News)

[Kirk W]

Escapees RV Club has a long history of advocating on behalf of RVers to fight against detrimental laws and unfair regulations. Escapees also aims to inform RVers about legislation that may impact the RV lifestyle and the freedoms we enjoy. It has come to our attention that 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. Escapees Advocacy will once again reach out to SD legislators, but it’s important that legislators hear from you as well! No one should be forced to live in a sticks-and-bricks home in order exercise their right to vote. These bills are not out of committee yet, and with your help, they will die before ever hitting the House or Senate Floor.

Should you choose to contact your legislators or representatives, please consider the following tips:

• Identify yourself and how you are connected with the issue and the elected official.

• Provide relevant materials and include your contact information for potential follow-up.

• Be specific and prioritize your requests in a clear and effective manner.

• Always be polite and remember you not only represent yourself but also your RVing community. Be a resource, not an adversary.

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.

Edited February 8, 2023 by Kirk W
Add information.

[packnrat]

no more snow birds in south dakota.  do they understand how much money there state will lose on that? and seeing as almost none see the state it is all good income to the tax coffers as there is no usage of the roads.

sounds like they are being calafornacted.

want too much control of everybody, and everything.

[TXiceman]

packnrat, the people are reacting to the radical extreme groups form both ends, never mind the folks in the middle.

If you are using the SD address, speak up and flood them with correspondence.  As an amateur radio operator, the FCC was trying to reallocate some amateur frequencies to the telecommunications providers a few years back.  there was a correspondence campaign from the radio operators and the FCC decided to leave things as they were for now after being blanketed in correspondence.

Just speak up.

 

Ken

[Lbcox11]

Let's say the worst happens and these get passed, but you have already established residency thru the Escapees program. Are you grandfathered in as a resident?

[Kirk W]

24 minutes ago, Lbcox11 said:

Are you grandfathered in as a resident?

That would depend on how the law is written and possibly the state courts.

[DanZemke]

Hopefully, this thread is much ado about nothing.

I suspect it is.

[RV_]

Kirk perhaps you can also post this in RV Action items so folks can find it.

RV Action Items

Legislative issues, ordinances, and restrictions that directly affect the RV community

[Vladimir]

On 2/7/2023 at 5:44 PM, Kirk W said:

 

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.

I suspect the folks in South Dakota are worried as a small population state that close elections will be decided by voters that do NOT live in the state or for that matter have little interest in the state.

I have a stick built home in a county in Washington state where over 40% of the homes are owned by people living outside the county and with the recent upsurge in AirBnb most of them went into the vacation rental pool.  

This resulted in a uproar by local residents and they started pushing for regulation of the vacation home rentals in the county.   And there was a open county commissioner race right in the middle of the regulation push.

The vacation rental folks sent out a flyer asking people to change their voter registration to Chelan County and of course, be sure to vote for THEIR candidate for county commissioner.  She won the election by a very close margin.

In Washington state, it is NOT illegal to register to vote if your not eligible.  It is only illegal if you vote.  The state never did get involved, but the Auditor told people NOT to do that.  Nobody knows what happened.

I suspect that is the issue in South Dakota.

I have met hundreds of RV'ers with South Dakota plates in the last twenty years.  

Last week, I finally met a RV couple that lived in South Dakota as natives.

It would be interesting to follow up and get the concerns of the people of South Dakota why they are raising the issue.  

Most small population states are pretty open to people moving to their states "on paper", but obviously there had to be something that triggered  the issue.

 

 

[Chalkie]

21 hours ago, Vladimir said:

Most small population states are pretty open to people moving to their states "on paper", but obviously there had to be something that triggered  the issue.

You raise an interesting point. That "on paper" population could help during Census years by opening federal programs that are tied to population. This would be a good thing I would think.

[Vladimir]

4 hours ago, Chalkie said:

You raise an interesting point. That "on paper" population could help during Census years by opening federal programs that are tied to population. This would be a good thing I would think.

There are a LOT of advantages to having "residents" that do not live in the state.

Until the vacation rental boom, our local county got a great deal from having very, very expensive homes occupied only on rare occasions.  That all changed when it became party weekend every weekend of the year.

I wonder what triggered the change of heart in South Dakota.

One negative I heard about years ago, was the impact of RV'ers on South Dakota health insurance rates.  RV'ers are older and get medical treatment in areas with a higher cost of medicine than South Dakota.

Here is a story from 2004 on voting.  Worth reading.  

http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/10/27_steilm_sodakrvvoters/

And a more current article.

https://www.argusleader.com/story/news/2019/03/05/thousands-south-dakota-voters-dont-live-where-they-register-news-watch/3065884002/

This is an interesting quote from the public radio article.......

"Some states have taken action to block RV'ers from voting. Nevada accepts them as residents, but only allows RV'ers to vote in the presidential race. The concern in Nevada is that RV'ers might sway local elections."

I wonder how that works....you can only vote in the presidential election???

 

Edited February 15, 2023 by Vladimir

[hemsteadc]

On 2/13/2023 at 5:43 PM, Vladimir said:

Most small population states are pretty open to people moving to their states "on paper", but obviously there had to be something that triggered  the issue.

It would be my guess that it's because Ms Noem is an election denier.

[Vladimir]

Don't chase rabbits.....I have had ONLY ONE hunting dog that managed to run them down.

[Kirk W]

I just received the following notice.

Escapees RV Club

Senate Bill 124 and House Bill 1232 are Dead!

We are happy to announce that the South Dakota Senate State Affairs Committee and the South Dakota House State of Affairs Committee voted to defer SB 124 and HB 1232 to the “41st legislative day.” Since there cannot be more than 40 legislative days in a session, this is a simple way to kill a bill.

Special thanks to Escapees members who contacted their representatives opposing these bills, and to Senator Castleberry for reaching out via email over the holiday weekend to confirm that the bills are dead.

-Jim Koca, Escapees Advocacy Director

[fpmtngal]

Awesome news!!  Thanks for the update.

[bigjim]

Even though it does not affect me personally I am cheered to know of anyone protecting voting rights anywhere for any reason. Three cheers.

[rynosback]

Just an update

 

 

Update Regarding Recent South Dakota Legislation
 

 

Escapees RV Club has a long history of advocating on behalf of RVers to fight against detrimental laws and unfair regulations. Escapees also aims to inform RVers about legislation that may impact the RV lifestyle and the freedoms we enjoy. We recently reached out to you regarding proposed House Bill 1232 and proposed Senate Bill 124, both of which would affect RVers' right to vote. 

Senate Bill 124 and House Bill 1232 are Dead!

We are happy to announce that the South Dakota Senate State Affairs Committee and the South Dakota House State of Affairs Committee voted to defer SB 124 and HB 1232 to the "41st legislative day." Since there cannot be more than 40 legislative days in a session, this is a simple way to kill a bill. 

Special thanks to Escapees members who contacted their representatives opposing these bills, and to Senator Castleberry for reaching out via email over the holiday weekend to confirm that the bills are dead.

-Jim Koca, Escapees Advocacy Director

[LovinRVing]

I have read numerous articles and comments on this "Dead" bill starting with reporting on it in RVTravel Newsletter.

Reading the comments on this thread reminds me of the old neighborhood axiom "Not in My Backyard" or NIMBA. I am surprised how many posts thought this was the worst possible scenario for RV'ers, not being judged as residents of a state that many probably have never even visited. If I was a resident of So. Dakota I wouldn't want the members of this forum to be part of who controls my taxes, zoning, schools, lifestyle, and governmental representative. If the one poster doesn't like the governor, which frankly I do, that's exactly the reason a bill like this gets introduced. If Ms. Noem is an election denier as stated that's up to the people living in the state to decide who they vote for and chose to run their state and by that mandate their state of affairs affecting their day-in and day-out life living in So. Dakota. And to that matter particularly, there are something like 80M or more deniers out there, including 154 members of congress.

Perhaps South Dakota is just trying to stem the invasion of people pouring by the hundreds of thousands out of West coast states such as California and Washington. Then you have the good folks of Eastern Oregon trying to move state lines so they can be politically represented more to their ideals like their good neighbors in Idaho and join that state and fed up with Western Oregon, see Portland!

I see the same thing happening in my home state of New York since 2020, with more than 450K residents moving out as fast as they can rent a U-Haul. Like the West coast, taxes and the social ideals of the state are making thousands find areas in the country more aligned to their belief system and how they were taught.

[DanZemke]

"I see the same thing happening in my home state of New York since 2020, with more than 450K residents moving out as fast as they can rent a U-Haul. Like the West coast, taxes and the social ideals of the state are making thousands find areas in the country more aligned to their belief system and how they were taught. "

I  live in Connecticut.  Residents are moving out of Connecticut too.  And I agree with your assertion about taxes.  The other prime motivator is lower housing costs.

"social ideals"

Nonsense for NY and CA.  Some yes, the vast majority no.

------------------------------------------

I read the proposed law from the newly elected SD legislator.s  My impression was the purpose of the new law was to get publicity.  It didn't become a law and there is  no chance that a derivative of it will either.  A similar attack on full-timers was attempted by another politician several years ago.  It also got publicity and never became law.

The simple truth is that almost all full-time RVers, that have selected SD as their domicile, do not vote on local issues, unless the proposed law directly affects them financially.

Edited March 5, 2023 by DanZemke
clarity

[Kirk W]

4 hours ago, DanZemke said:

The simple truth is that almost all full-time RVers, that have selected SD as their domicile, do not vote on local issues, unless the proposed law directly affects them financially.

I hope that is true and it is the Escapee recommendation, but I doubt that any of us know for sure and since the law allows us to vote the entire ballot, I am sure that some RVers do. 

[DanZemke]

12 hours ago, Kirk W said:

I am sure that some RVers do. 

I doubt that any of us know for sure 😉

[Kirk W]

The problem is that our system has no means of voter registration without a local connection. The same is true for a host of other issues. Continuous travelers, whether by RV, boat, or any other means are just too few in number to ever get something done to resolve the problem. I have wondered if it wouldn't be possible for states with a large traveling population to create some special type of voter registration that allows only state wide and national ballots for people like us?

[LovinRVing]

1 hour ago, Kirk W said:

The problem is that our system has no means of voter registration without a local connection. The same is true for a host of other issues. Continuous travelers, whether by RV, boat, or any other means are just too few in number to ever get something done to resolve the problem. I have wondered if it wouldn't be possible for states with a large traveling population to create some special type of voter registration that allows only state wide and national ballots for people like us?

If you are speaking about the subject state South Dakota with the term "large traveling population" but in truth, you are an RV full-timer spending your time on the road, why in the world would that state create a special voter system so you can influence the daily lives of folks that have their boots on the ground making the state what it is? Now maybe for national elections such as president, but not any congressional positions that again those elected represent the people of that state, I could see that. But, isn't that already covered with the whole mail-in ballot and the controversy surrounding them.

[Kirk W]

27 minutes ago, LovinRVing said:

why in the world would that state create a special voter system

To get the tax revenues provided by vehicle registrations and such with no significant cost for services? TX has already made several laws to provide for and encourage the RV community to spend time there because they realize the benefit received and they have defended it through the state courts. Oregon has a provision for continuous travelers in their laws about vehicle registrations and driver's licenses, so why not for voting? FL also has made some provisions for RV folks but none of them have addressed the voting issue other than to allow us to register. We voted from Polk County, TX for all 12 years that we were on the road. While we were TX resident prior to going fulltime and we have returned to TX since leaving the road, only our mail service was ever in Polk County as we were in Tarrant County before going on the road and in Smith County when we returned. 

[bigjim]

I am required to have a domicle.  I have a duty to vote and to do my best to study the canditates and issues and make my best judgement. Therefore I normally vote almost all the ticket in Polk county if I am able to be informed in my choice. I make no apologies for doing so. I have been a Texas resident most of my life and domiciled in a number of Texas counties over the years. They get my tax money, they get my vote. Who knows I may even vote along popular local views for all they know.  I will vote against anyone or party that tries to subvert peoples right to vote.

 

 

 

Edited March 6, 2023 by bigjim

[Kirk W]

1 hour ago, bigjim said:

I am required to have a domicle. 

There is no law that requires you to have a domicile, but the term is a legal one that is defined by the courts in the event that yours is ever challenged. The law does set requirements for registering vehicles, for a driving license, for voter registration, but you won't find the word domicile in any of them. Domicile is used in some of the estate laws with regard to disbursal of your estate. 

1 hour ago, bigjim said:

Therefore I normally vote almost all the ticket in Polk county

School board? County Commissioners? Do you spend time in Polk County and/or own real estate there? As much as I defend our rights to vote, I also understand why the local residents who actually live and do business in Polk County (or where ever) might not want me to be able to vote on local issues, but at this time you either can vote or you can't and there is no part way.