A little background.
I recently moved from West Virginia to Georgia, around the end of February. The only problem is, West Virginia hasn’t held their democratic primary yet. And Georgia held theirs before I moved. By the time WV holds theirs, I’ll technically be a resident of Georgia. Did I lose my chance to vote? That doesn’t seem right, somehow. I’m sure I’m not the first person this has happened to, but my google-fu fails me. Is there a way for me to vote?
I’m sure if you asked the West Virginia Secretary of State’s office, they’d tell you, but here’s the League of Women Voters’ website regarding voting in West Virginia, which says that in order to be eligible to vote in WV, you must be:
A resident of West Virginia and the county where you register
A U.S. citizen
At least 18 years old on Election Day
Not currently under conviction for a felony, including probation or parole, or a court ruling of mental incompetence
Since you won’t be a resident of West Virginia at the date of the primary, it doesn’t seem that you’d be eligible.
[QUOTE=Page Fault]
A little background.
I recently moved from West Virginia to Georgia, around the end of February. The only problem is, West Virginia hasn’t held their democratic primary yet. And Georgia held theirs before I moved. By the time WV holds theirs, I’ll technically be a resident of Georgia. Did I lose my chance to vote? That doesn’t seem right, somehow. I’m sure I’m not the first person this has happened to, but my google-fu fails me. Is there a way for me to vote?
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What’s involved with becoming a resident of Georgia? Can you just put it off for a couple months and vote absentee in WV?
Is there a compelling reason why you haven’t posed this question to the registry of voters in your proposed GA county of residence (assuming GA does things on a county basis) ?
[QUOTE=Page Fault]
A little background.
I recently moved from West Virginia to Georgia, around the end of February. The only problem is, West Virginia hasn’t held their democratic primary yet. And Georgia held theirs before I moved. By the time WV holds theirs, I’ll technically be a resident of Georgia. Did I lose my chance to vote? That doesn’t seem right, somehow.
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What seems wrong about it? Why should a Georgia resident be allowed to vote in the West Virginia primary?
[QUOTE=SmellMyWort]
What’s involved with becoming a resident of Georgia? Can you just put it off for a couple months and vote absentee in WV?
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Not if he no longer lives in WV.
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal]
What seems wrong about it? Why should a Georgia resident be allowed to vote in the West Virginia primary?
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Maybe because I can’t vote in /either/ primary? Thus I can’t vote at all? Basically, because I happened to move at a certain time, I can’t contribute to the selection of the Democratic candidate. It’s arguable if there’s a ‘right’ to vote in a primary, though. Since I will be able to vote in the general election.
To answer some of the other questions: I asked here because I hang out here(mostly lurking) and thought it not only could provide an answer, but might get some interesting conversation. My move was very recent, as I said, so I haven’t gotten all the details about residency and such. This question just popped up in conversation and I tossed it here for both an answer and because I think it’s an interesting question.
[QUOTE=Page Fault]
Maybe because I can’t vote in /either/ primary? Thus I can’t vote at all? Basically, because I happened to move at a certain time, I can’t contribute to the selection of the Democratic candidate. It’s arguable if there’s a ‘right’ to vote in a primary, though. Since I will be able to vote in the general election.
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However, the choice of when to move was yours alone, and therefore, I see no obligation incumbent upon either state to make special accomodation for you.
SD legal minds may offer other opinions.
[QUOTE=Page Fault]
Maybe because I can’t vote in /either/ primary? Thus I can’t vote at all? Basically, because I happened to move at a certain time, I can’t contribute to the selection of the Democratic candidate. It’s arguable if there’s a ‘right’ to vote in a primary, though. Since I will be able to vote in the general election.
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You chose to move.
Primaries are held by states. Residents of one cannot vote in primaries of another. How would you remedy this? Should everyone be allowed to vote in whatever primary she chooses?
I’m registered as an Independent. I don’t get to vote in my state’s primary at all. Is that right?
Don’t let this get out or the Clinton camp will be screaming for a do-over in Georgia too.
Is there a name for a loophole that lets you get away with something you don’t want to get away with? Cause you’ve found one.
I don’t see the problem either. You chose to move when you did knowing the dates of each primary. If you had moved from GA to WV, you could have voted in two primaries.
The states can’t tailor their election laws to suit each individual voter…
… with respect, what’s this about ‘choosing the moving date?’
Has nobody here moved due to a job before? So I can either vote or… starve. Yeah.
[QUOTE=Page Fault]
Maybe because I can’t vote in /either/ primary? Thus I can’t vote at all? Basically, because I happened to move at a certain time, I can’t contribute to the selection of the Democratic candidate. It’s arguable if there’s a ‘right’ to vote in a primary, though. Since I will be able to vote in the general election.
To answer some of the other questions: I asked here because I hang out here(mostly lurking) and thought it not only could provide an answer, but might get some interesting conversation. My move was very recent, as I said, so I haven’t gotten all the details about residency and such. This question just popped up in conversation and I tossed it here for both an answer and because I think it’s an interesting question.
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My guess is that if you had talked to the state voting people (yes, I believe that’s the technical term 
) they would have allowed you to vote with an absentee or mail in ballot. Unfortunately, because the election has already occurred, my guess is that you can’t vote anymore.
Stinks for this go around, but hopefully you won’t let it happen again.
[QUOTE=SmellMyWort]
Don’t let this get out or the Clinton camp will be screaming for a do-over in Georgia too.
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You misspelled Obama… 
[QUOTE=Page Fault]
… with respect, what’s this about ‘choosing the moving date?’
Has nobody here moved due to a job before? So I can either vote or… starve. Yeah.
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How about this. You chose a political party that restricts voting rights to residents of the state in question. I presume these restrictions were in place before you joined. I further presume that such joining was not at pain of death.
As for moving because of a job change, was a gun to your head? Unless it was literally forced upon you, yes, you chose to do so. With change comes, you know, change. You won’t need all those winter clothes in Georgia. All that wasted money! Is that fair?
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal]
How about this. You chose a political party that restricts voting rights to residents of the state in question. I presume these restrictions were in place before you joined. I further presume that such joining was not at pain of death.
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Are there political parties that don’t restrict voting rights to residents of the state? This is for the /national/ election, not the local. It’s still done by state. The same thing would have happened for a Republican primary in two other states. And there are also the issues of open primaries versus closed primaries, which are dependent upon state and not party.
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal]
As for moving because of a job change, was a gun to your head? Unless it was literally forced upon you, yes, you chose to do so. With change comes, you know, change. You won’t need all those winter clothes in Georgia. All that wasted money! Is that fair?
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There is no ‘right to not waste money,’ but there is a right to vote for who leads the nation. I don’t think you’re understanding the issue here.
SenoraGO offered a reasonable explanation of how a situation like this(which is probably fairly common) should be handled. Maybe I can’t vote, that’s not a big deal to me. As long as some process was in place that I could have, if I’d filled out the required paperwork in time. Technically, I probably still can vote if what Senora said was true, since I have a residence in WV(I haven’t sold my house) and haven’t registered in GA yet.
[QUOTE=Page Fault]
There is no ‘right to not waste money,’ but there is a right to vote for who leads the nation. I don’t think you’re understanding the issue here.
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But you will get to vote. In November when the general election is held.
Ah the powers of google…
Looks like this site will be helpful for you: You’re welcome 
[QUOTE=Page Fault]
There is no ‘right to not waste money,’ but there is a right to vote for who leads the nation. I don’t think you’re understanding the issue here.
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How has your right to vote for who leads the nation been compromised?
You don’t seem to understand a very simple concept. You must be a resident of a state to vote in the primary of said state. The primaries are not all held on the same day. Why do you think that past residency in one state entitles you to vote in another state that has already had a primary? I am seriously confused. If you wanted to vote in the Georgia primary, you should have established residency there *before *the primary was held. if you wanted to vote in the W.V. primary, you should have maintained residency there *until *the primary was held.
It really is this simple. Residents can vote, non-residents cannot. That’s the way things are from the lowest level to the highest. Would you have it that residency be established by some *stated intent *to move into a jurisdiction?
Petition your party to change the rules if you don’t like it.
[QUOTE=Contrapuntal]
How has your right to vote for who leads the nation been compromised?
You don’t seem to understand a very simple concept. You must be a resident of a state to vote in the primary of said state. The primaries are not all held on the same day. Why do you think that past residency in one state entitles you to vote in another state that has already had a primary? I am seriously confused. If you wanted to vote in the Georgia primary, you should have established residency there *before *the primary was held. if you wanted to vote in the W.V. primary, you should have maintained residency there *until *the primary was held.
It really is this simple. Residents can vote, non-residents cannot. That’s the way things are from the lowest level to the highest. Would you have it that residency be established by some *stated intent *to move into a jurisdiction?
Petition your party to change the rules if you don’t like it.
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You really, really are confused.
I’m not saying whether I should or shouldn’t vote. I’m fine with not being able to, but your logic… isn’t. I’ll break it down for you:
Yes.
I don’t. Nobody’s said this. That’d be silly. What we’re talking about is voting in WV(which hasn’t voted yet) despite moving to GA, since I lived in WV for part of the year. Look at it like that. I have, during the election year, lived in two states. I can vote in one of these. That’s it. But, as things are strictly read, I can’t vote in either because the dates for the elections between the two are VERY widely spaced, while the residency requirement is extremely short. I’ve lived in both during the election year, I should be able to vote in ONE state, logically. Does that make more sense?
No argument with this. Makes perfect sense.
On the surface, this makes sense. The trouble is, Residency is established by 30 days, and the primaries are held months apart. On one hand, should I be allowed to vote in the WV primary when I’m no longer a representative? Perhaps not. On the other, I’m still a US Citizen, and shouldn’t I have just as much say in who gets chosen for the presidential election?
Also, I’ll point out that technically I’m still a resident of WV, so at the moment this is hypothetical. One of the other posters pointed out a site that seems to imply that no, since it was a job change move, I can’t vote absentee. But if I were displaced due to natural disaster or family emergency, and were forced to change residency, I could. That seems fair to me, and a reasonable requirement. You seem to have trouble grasping on why I even thought it was an issue. I’ll break it down.
If the rules say I can’t, that’s fine. But do you think it that strange that I think I should be given the chance to vote in one of the states, for a national election within my party?