Does Registering To Vote In Another State Change My Residency

So You Moved During the Pandemic. Now How Exercise You Vote?

Whether you lot're staying at a second dwelling house, a college dorm, your parents' house or just moving around, here'southward where and how you tin can vote.

Credit... Kristopher Radder/The Brattleboro Reformer, via Associated Printing

Sept. 16, 2020

"Where do yous live?" might have been an easy question to answer earlier the pandemic.

But now, the reply is oft prefaced with a complicated story of fleeing a urban center for your parents' business firm with a yard, relocating to a 2nd home or the suburbs, or moving around for the fun of it, or because your previous housing fell through.

So among remote work, Zoom classes and full general pandemic anarchy, voting — and the sometimes confusing rules surrounding information technology — may be the concluding thing on your mind.

With Nov. 3 just around the corner, here'south what y'all should know about voting later on relocating during the pandemic.

First, make up one's mind where yous'll be voting. (Information technology'southward not e'er obvious.)

Residency requirements for voting vary from state to state. For example, the New York State Board of Elections says y'all demand to be a resident of the country as well as the county, city or village where you plan to vote for at least 30 days before the election.

Merely what, exactly, is a resident?

Even if y'all won't be living at the accost where you're registered to vote — an apartment back in the city, for example, while yous're staying with your parents elsewhere — in the days leading up to the ballot, you tin still vote at your permanent address.

Much of the decision comes down to whether you accept an "intent to remain" at the address y'all've moved to, said Tammy Patrick, a senior adviser at Democracy Fund, a nonprofit organization that supports gratis and fair elections.

"Information technology'south absolutely legal for someone to vote in a state or metropolis they take moved from if they intend to get back there," she said, adding that if you motion before long earlier the election — especially within the window of residency requirements in your new home state — yous tin can vote at your previous accost.

Y'all may also want to consider if the land you lot moved to has same-day registration, which allows yous to register on or earlier Election Day at the polls. (You will most probable need to provide proof of residency, such as a utility bill.)

1 thing to keep in mind if you're thinking nearly voting at your temporary residence: In some states, registering to vote tin can be a proclamation of residency, which could complicate things if you plan to be there simply temporarily.

Make sure you're registered to vote in that state.

To verify registration condition or to register to vote, check with your local election authorities, such equally the secretary of state or board of elections in your state. (For an unofficial bank check, Vote.org offers election information for all fifty states.)

If you moved within the same state, county or fifty-fifty city, it'due south withal important to update voter registration records with your new address, Ms. Patrick said.

And if you're registered to vote in more than than i land, no need to worry that y'all take broken the police, Ms. Patrick said: It's purposely difficult to cancel a voter registration, and states are aware that some people are registered in multiple places.

Information technology is illegal, however, to vote in more than one place or otherwise cast more 1 ballot in a presidential election. Although President Trump suggested this calendar month that voters in Due north Carolina should vote twice — past mail and in person — in at to the lowest degree 28 states, it's a felony to vote more than one time in the same election. (Josh Stein, the attorney general of N Carolina, directed voters to disregard the president's suggestion.)

The penalty for voting more than once varies past state. For example, in Georgia, the maximum penalty is upward to 10 years of jail fourth dimension and a fine of up to $100,000.

Decide how you'll be voting.

There are three main means to vote: in person, by post or with an absentee ballot.

To vote in person, merely evidence up at your assigned polling location on Ballot Day. Thirty-nine states and the District of Columbia offer early voting in person, co-ordinate to the National Conference of State Legislatures, a bipartisan advocacy group.

You tin also vote by postal service. All registered voters in California, Colorado, Hawaii, New Bailiwick of jersey, Nevada, Oregon, Utah, Vermont, Washington and the District of Columbia will automatically become a election in the mail service.

Absentee voting, as well called mail-in voting, is another option, allowing yous to vote in elections specific to your permanent address while yous're residing elsewhere (including exterior the state or the land). In 35 states, either no excuse is required to vote absentee or avoiding the coronavirus is accepted as a reason for wanting to exercise so.

Six states require an excuse besides the virus to vote absentee: Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi, South Carolina, Tennessee and Texas.

Don't await.

Once you've decided where and how you'll exist voting, don't wait to register — especially if you'll be voting by mail.

If y'all want to vote absentee, you lot'll need to apply to do so. (Proceed in mind that it'south a separate application from the form to register to vote.)

In 35 states, yous tin can request a ballot so shut to Election Twenty-four hour period that it might not be received and sent dorsum in fourth dimension to exist counted, co-ordinate to a New York Times analysis of mail service-in voting dates around the country.

So don't procrastinate.

If you lot're a college student, yous can vote where you get to school (if you're actually at that place).

If yous're living at or near your college, y'all can vote there. Follow local guidelines for voter registration. Most schools have polling locations on campus, as well.

And in states that impose sure obligations on residents, students who declare residency — whether accidentally or on purpose — by registering to vote where they go to schoolhouse may face fewer such residency requirements. For instance, most states exempt students from having to get a land driver'south license or ID.

If you're experiencing homelessness or don't have a permanent address, you can nonetheless vote.

People experiencing homelessness are able to vote in all fifty states.

If you're staying with friends or relatives and tin receive mail at their dwelling house, you lot can use their address to register.

Y'all can also utilize the address of a shelter where y'all stay or frequently visit, and it is likewise permissible to list a street corner or park as a residence on some states' voter registration forms.