If I have one home in one state and 2nd home in a neighboring state AND assume I am a licensed driver in both states, do the Local Election Boards have any check to prevent me from registering to vote in BOTH places? Is there any national system to check for such anomalies? (I threw in the licensed driver thing, should it matter. I don’t think it always does, however.) For clarity, say I pay property taxes and income tax to both states and split my time between residences 50/50…what then?
First, you would be an illegal driver in one(both?) of those states. All states require a surrender of any other DL when issuing their own.
You can only have one legal residence for the purpose of voting. There aren’t a lot of checks in place to prevent it but the penalties are pretty severe.
Yes, it is illegal to vote in both places.
It is perhaps a bit murkier (to IANAL Me) if it is illegal to be registered in both places, but only vote in one.
Why would anyone do that? Well early November might be nice in the Hamdens some years and other years mrs. Warbucks might want to be back in Miami or Scottsdale by mid October.
I have neighbors that have 2 residences and they vote in only one of them by
absentee ballots. They’re in Massauchettes right now but vote in Florida . I thought this was weird b/c they’re never in Florida during the elections.
I started a thread on a similar question here.
Short answer is that it is illegal, and that there are systems in place to check, but they are not universally applied or perfect.
Many people are accidentally registered in two jurisdictions – they just forget to cancel their registration when they move – but the number who intentionally and fraudulently vote in both jurisdictions is very low. Penalties are high, depending on the state: up to 10 years in jail and $10,000 in fines.
(BTW, IANAL tax lawyer, but I believe that most people with residences in two states declare one as their primary and pay taxes mostly or entirely to that state, deducting any that the other state imposes. /hijack)
It would be possible during primaries, however. A college student in New Hampshire could vote in the New Hampshire primary in February, return home to California and vote in the California primary assuming then student met the minimum residency requirement for registration in both states.
Penalties are high and benefits are infinitessimal. Truly a high risk, no reward crime.
Great user name & post title - two residences, two votes, Jinx!
Another point about the OP: you can’t be a licensed driver intwo states simultaneously. When I moved to Nevada, my Maryland driver’s license was invalidated.
Primaries are run by the parties though, who make their own rules, so not very comparable systems.
Why is that weird? If they consider Florida their primary residence, then that’s where they should vote, regardless of where they’re physically located. Besides, votes in Florida are much more useful than votes in Massachusetts.
The only thing that’s weird is spending November in MA when you could be in FL…
This happened to me. I had assumed there was some automatic, behind-the-scenes thing that cancels your registration in your old jurisdiction when you move, the way, say, driver’s licenses work. A few years later, my dad moved (my previous registration was at his house) and they sent me a new voter registration card at his new address. I called them and had my name struck when my dad mentioned the new card to me.
Needless to say, once I moved I never voted in any elections in my dad’s area, even though I was apparently still registered.
My long-dead grandmother remained on the voting polls in San Francisco for several years. If her voting were to have been changed to absentee voting then many votes could have been cast by “her”.
The penalties can be severe. I know a guy who did this – voted at his parents’ home, and again at college. He got caught by an audit, and was charged. He got a plea bargain, and paid $100, and did 100 hours community service.
Just don’t count on such leniency; a cranky D.A. could refuse to deal.