Changing voter registration after requesting an absentee ballot
October 31, 2018 9:28 AM Subscribe
I'm helping my WI-based college students early-vote (absentee-in-person), and two just asked a question I can't find the answer to. They've already requested absentee ballots from their home states (PA and MA), but haven't received them yet and doubt they'll be able to return them in time. Can they re-register to vote in Wisconsin (which has day-of registration) after requesting an absentee ballot from another state? My instinct says yes as long as they don't submit the PA/MA ballots, but I haven't run into this question before and don't want to lead them into voter fraud.
I, no election lawyer (or lawyer of any kind), agree with your instinct that theyre doing nothing wrong if they register and vote in WI on election day.
If they meet WI's registration requirements, and can register and vote there, then the only issue would be returning their home state ballots and having voted twice.
This gets into the bullshit around people who are registered (validly) in multiple states because they have moved, and further its the (fairly transparent) justification behind purging voter roles.
If you take the absentee ballot question out of it there is no question that they'd be in the right to register and vote where they go to school, and i dont see how requesting an absentee ballot is a more clear demonstration of intent to vote than registering to vote in person. This is to say that they had previously declared their intentions to vote in MA and PA, and are now, validly, changing their minds and voting in WI.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:42 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
If they meet WI's registration requirements, and can register and vote there, then the only issue would be returning their home state ballots and having voted twice.
This gets into the bullshit around people who are registered (validly) in multiple states because they have moved, and further its the (fairly transparent) justification behind purging voter roles.
If you take the absentee ballot question out of it there is no question that they'd be in the right to register and vote where they go to school, and i dont see how requesting an absentee ballot is a more clear demonstration of intent to vote than registering to vote in person. This is to say that they had previously declared their intentions to vote in MA and PA, and are now, validly, changing their minds and voting in WI.
posted by Exceptional_Hubris at 9:42 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
In practice, I think it's extremely unlikely that there will be any problem as long as they don't try to actually cast ballots in two states. They should call up the election commissions in their home states and ask that their absentee ballots be cancelled or spoiled or whatever the term is, but if I were them I'd just go ahead and vote in WI (and only WI) regardless.
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 10:11 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by Anticipation Of A New Lover's Arrival, The at 10:11 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]
Assuming they're otherwise qualified, they may register in WI and vote as they like (absentee, in-person absentee, or in-person on election day) and destroy the other ballots if/when they arrive. There is 0% chance that they will be prevented from registering in WI due to the outstanding ballot requests with other states; there simply isn't communication between the relevant databases. If they'd like to be very diligent and contact the other states, that's fine, but I can't imagine it's necessary as long as the ballots aren't voted.
That said, they should pick a state and stick with it. If they want to claim that, as students, they have an intent to return to PA/MA and PA/MA allow that sort of thing, then requesting absentees as they did is proper. There may even be a grace period on PA/MA receiving those ballots back; that is, it is possible that, as long as they're postmarked by a certain time on election day and received within a certain number of days after election day, they can still be accepted. If that's too stressful and the students want to switch to WI, that's fine, if they've been here all semester then that's plenty long to claim residency for voting, but then they should keep voting here until/unless they actually move back to PA/MA. Even if nobody would actually catch it, keeping one foot in each state and voting wherever it's most convenient or has the most interesting races is not the outcome we want, unless they're actually spending enough time in PA/MA and then WI before different elections to qualify as residents anew. To be clear though, if they do register in WI, they're welcome to keep voting here even if they spend substantial time in PA/MA, as long as they're planning on coming back.
posted by teremala at 10:35 AM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
That said, they should pick a state and stick with it. If they want to claim that, as students, they have an intent to return to PA/MA and PA/MA allow that sort of thing, then requesting absentees as they did is proper. There may even be a grace period on PA/MA receiving those ballots back; that is, it is possible that, as long as they're postmarked by a certain time on election day and received within a certain number of days after election day, they can still be accepted. If that's too stressful and the students want to switch to WI, that's fine, if they've been here all semester then that's plenty long to claim residency for voting, but then they should keep voting here until/unless they actually move back to PA/MA. Even if nobody would actually catch it, keeping one foot in each state and voting wherever it's most convenient or has the most interesting races is not the outcome we want, unless they're actually spending enough time in PA/MA and then WI before different elections to qualify as residents anew. To be clear though, if they do register in WI, they're welcome to keep voting here even if they spend substantial time in PA/MA, as long as they're planning on coming back.
posted by teremala at 10:35 AM on October 31, 2018 [2 favorites]
Call town clerks in previous location and new location. Get the name of the clerk yo speak to, in case of problems.
posted by theora55 at 10:39 AM on October 31, 2018
posted by theora55 at 10:39 AM on October 31, 2018
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...I would call up the elections at their home states and ask them what to do. I'm 99% sure that they will have to "spoil the absentee ballots" that are in-route. It is kind of a pain but to be 100% sure that your students don't have two ballots "checked out to them", you'll have to make sure that the home state ballot is spoiled. Of course, if they do get the ballot in the mail eventually they'll have to shred it.
Most states run their elections offices through the counties so call up their home county elections office. Right now the phone lines are probably kind of busy (ours sure are...) so you may have to wait a bit. This is something that your students should be able to do on their own as well.
tl;dr: call up the home county elections offices and ask what to do.
posted by Elly Vortex at 9:41 AM on October 31, 2018 [1 favorite]