If I am rich, and I have two residents, can I vote twice? Could they know I’m registered in another state?
Absolutely not. My father-in-law just got prevented from doing this and he fits the rich and two residences parts. You can only vote in the state of your primary residence. He spends 4 days a week in Massachusetts and 3 days a week at his farm in New Hampsire. When he tried to register to vote in New Hampshire, they knew he was a weekend gentleman farmer because it is a very small town and they sent him packing. I am sure that some people do get away with it however.
Nitpick: You cannot have “two residents” (although a very small village could), but you can have two residences.
I’ve always had a problem with part of this exact issue.
I live in NH, but mostly work in MA. Which means that I have to pay state income taxes to the Commonwealth of Taxachussets. But alas, I have no vote there, in any capacity. I think this is taxation without representation, but they don’t seem to agree with me. </rant>
As far as I know, it’s fraud, and HIGHLY illegal to vote in more than one place for a given election, and in general, registering to vote in a new location “technically” voids your previous registration.
-Butler
Is it illegal? You bet your ass it is. Is it possible? Sure, my parents technically live in Florida but maintain their house here, and though they’ve been voting in Florida for almost ten years, last time I went to vote their names were still right next to mine on the poll lists, although the State of South Carolina is quite sure they’re gone. So it would have been possible (but illegal and highly immoral) to vote twice.
For what it’s worth, I think you ought to be able to vote in the places you’re taxed. I mean, taxation, representation, that sort of thing.
They try to keep control over this by asking you if you have been registered anywhere else when you register someplace new. If you say yes, they contact the other location to cancel your registration there. Of course you don’t have to tell that you were previously registered…
As noted above, it’s voter fraud to vote in a jurisdiction you are not resident in. You may have two residences, but you are only a resident of one of them.
–Cliffy