Alert for South Dakota Domiciles

[twogypsies]

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

For additional information and a breakdown on these bills, we recommend visiting RVTravel.com.

[markpj23]

We were SD residents until last year. These bills have come up during the past few legislative sessions and have not made it out of committee thus far. Always pays to watch what's going on, but there is not much more than fringe support for these type of actions IMHO.

[Bigceasar]

There is some solid reasoning behind this and similar bills. RVers who use South Dakota as a domicile residence seldom spend more than a day or two in the state. Yet they vote on local issues that they have no interest in or knowledge of. Why should anyone whose only connection to a town is a mail forwarding service be allowed to vote for local school Boards and bond proposals? What interest do they have in the mayor or city council races and what knowledge do they have about the need for local taxation and spending measures?
In hyper local elections even a small number of disinterested voters can change election results. A school district can lose multiple bond elections simply because a bunch of mail forwarding addresses are owned by people who feel the need to vote against any tax regardless of the need and candidates fates rise and fall on those same disinterested voters choosing who to vote for by whatever silly method those voters employ be it a coin flip, or that candidate’s first name is the same as my grandkid’s.

[TechWriter]

Originally Posted by Bigceasar

There is some solid reasoning behind this and similar bills. RVers who use South Dakota as a domicile residence seldom spend more than a day or two in the state. Yet they vote on local issues that they have no interest in or knowledge of. Why should anyone whose only connection to a town is a mail forwarding service be allowed to vote for local school Boards and bond proposals?

My feelings exactly. I used the email address supplied by twogypsies to send this email:

First, I am an Escapee RV Club member. However, I think this club's misplaced "voting rights" tactics are nothing more than a defense of their mail service business.

If House Bill 1232 and Senate Bill 124 pass, then Escapee members may stop using this club's South Dakota mail service. So it's about the money.

[Old-Biscuit]

We used SD as our Domicile when we FTd
We were legal residents, registered our vehicles, got our SD DLs, registered to vote etc

We did NOT vote in ANY local elections, strictly State and Federal only

I understand the reasoning behind the Bills and support the ability of Local Elections to be voted on by Locals.
But legal residents should be able to vote on State/Federal elections

SD is becoming less and less RV friendly....and that's OK
Other states are and welcome the RV revenue
One can claim domicile in any state

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

We did NOT vote in ANY local elections, strictly State and Federal only

We had Texas domicile and we.... along with our friends .... did NOT vote in local elections. Why would anyone do so?

[Bigceasar]

The vast majority of laws are in place exactly because people do things they shouldn’t. Absent a law that prohibits mailing service addressees from voting locally some will.

[Stajones]

Yes, as you say, “some will”…but most of us (I hope) don’t.

[TravelSolo]

And what about those that live in a campground until winter and are gone a few months? They should have no input into local elections still?

[markpj23]

If you are a (insert state here...) resident then you have voting rights. Anything less is just un-American. You either believe in a democracy or you don't....

The fears cited in this thread are just fears that a vote will not support a particular agenda.

A solution in search of a problem IMHO....

[Punkinhead]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

We had Texas domicile and we.... along with our friends .... did NOT vote in local elections. Why would anyone do so?

A person who votes a straight party line would, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

[twogypsies]

Originally Posted by Punkinhead

A person who votes a straight party line would, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

Traveling full-timers should only vote for national; not local.

[tripntx]

Originally Posted by twogypsies

Traveling full-timers should only vote for national; not local.

Agree

[oatmeal]

Originally Posted by Old-Biscuit

I understand the reasoning behind the Bills and support the ability of Local Elections to be voted on by Locals.
But legal residents should be able to vote on State/Federal elections

What's the justification for letting them vote in state elections but not local elections?

Originally Posted by TechWriter

First, I am an Escapee RV Club member. However, I think this club's misplaced "voting rights" tactics are nothing more than a defense of their mail service business.

Not to mention that Escapees' connection to South Dakota might seem a bit tenuous, since all customers with an Escapees South Dakota addresses have to also maintain an Escapees Texas address, and anything that goes to a customer's South Dakota address is automatically sent to the customer's Texas address, for an additional fee.

We ask that our FL and SD customers use their FL or SD address (respectively) only for state and domicile-specific mail, such as driver license, vehicle registrations, voter registrations, etc. All other mail should be sent to the Texas mailing address. Each piece of mail sent to FL or SD will incur an additional fee. Packages received at these locations will be returned to sender.