Many people have been asking us about voting issues for full-time RVers, particularly in the State of South Dakota. South Dakota’s Minnehaha County, specifically, has cracked down on people who use a mail forwarding service in that county. It has been actively trying to restrict full-time travelers’ right to vote.
Absentee ballots contested
Absentee ballots from Dakota Post clients were all contested in the June 4, 2024, South Dakota primary election. Even though the full-time travelers, mainly RVers, were official residents of the State of South Dakota, their votes were not counted. When questioned as to why, it was because they did not live in South Dakota.
Minnehaha County Auditor Leah Anderson had designated Dakota Post mail forwarding service as its own precinct, 4-16. Then activist Jessica Pollema, with the South Dakota Canvassing Group, contested all of the approximately 160 absentee ballots from the 4-16 precinct.
Victory!
A recount was called for by the candidates who lost by a small margin of votes. The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the League of Women Voters (LWV) went to work to get all of the contested votes finally counted. Here is a link to the article and letter sent to the SD Secretary of State, Minnehaha County Auditor, Minnehaha County Commissioners, and the Minnehaha County Recount Board.
Still further to go
While this was a victory for all those who voted with absentee ballots in the South Dakota June 4th primary, there is still the issue that new residents in the Minnehaha County mail forwarding district, 4-16, are having their voter registration denied.
Several of the parties that have been denied voter registration are uniformed and overseas citizens protected under the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act. Those people represent overseas military, government contractors, diplomats, and overseas citizens. While these people may not represent full-time travelers currently, many full-time RVers were once a part of this group of people.
In January of 2024, a right-to-vote amendment to SB17A passed the South Dakota State Senate by a 7-0 vote. SB17A would have removed the 30-day residency requirement as well as having to have a fixed permanent dwelling in South Dakota for new voters registering. Unfortunately, the amendment was not passed by the South Dakota State House.
Upcoming November national elections
Addressing this issue before the November elections is particularly important to protect everyone’s right to vote, particularly those full-time travelers in South Dakota’s Minnehaha County.
How to have your voice heard
If you have been denied voter registration, get in contact with the South Dakota American Civil Liberties Union and the South Dakota League of Women Voters. Dakota Post is currently working in conjunction with them to address denied voter registrations from their precinct.
Amber Hobert, President of Dakota Post mail forwarding company states, “The bottom line is that these full time-travelers are United States citizens, South Dakota residents, and their Constitutional voting rights are being violated. Full-time travelers have a constitutional right to vote in the United States of America, and we intend to keep fighting for their right to vote in South Dakota!”
Note: There are several mail forwarding services in the State of South Dakota and rules and regulations vary by county. As a former full-time RVer who had residency in South Dakota, I strongly believe it is still the best state to establish a domicile for full-time RVers.
##RVT1165b
https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_permitting_noncitizens_to_vote_in_the_United_States#Details_about_noncitizen_voting_in_local_elections
Notch: Thank you for posting this site! It is more important now since the President of the US says he will veto any voting rights legislation (now passed by the House!). I am going to re-post your reference above – hopefully more Rv Travel readers will use it. Thanks again!
If you pay income taxes in Minnehaha County and if your rig is tagged in Minnehaha County, how can they restrict anything, regardless of what method you receive your mail? Is this open discrimination against full-timers or is this just something gone confused?
South Dakota does not levy a personal income tax. Also, Minnehaha County does not have an income tax.
On another note, if you have a PMB box in SD you are denied your right to purchase firearms by the ATF
Buy/sell via private party.
Except you shouldn’t buy or sell a handgun thru a private party without going thru a background check. In Pa the state police keep records of handgun purchases. Which in some ways may be good should the gun be stolen or use in a crime.
Yeah, we must keep govt involved and to know everything you do. Of course, all the criminals have their weapons registered. Absolutely stupid.
Boom!!!
As a ‘resident’ of SD for 12 years, I typically voted in person in the primaries and voted early at the county courthouse just before heading south for the winter. My residency was not just a convenience: I normally spent about 3 months in Custer County, had doctors in Rapid City, and a local library card.
Thank you, Nanci! 🙂 Does this mean that South Dakota is becoming less desirable as a “home” for full-time RVers, or is it just an anomalous blip? I guess time will tell, huh? Thanks again, have a grest weekend, safe travels, and safe stays! 🙂
I lean toward the counties side of this argument, but do understand both. The fact that us full-timers do not live in the county means we know little, if anything, about the issues in the county. Almost all the taxes collected in the county like property, excise, sales taxes (etc.) are not paid for by us. Our children do not go to the schools, we do not regularly shop, eat, or live there, so we should not have any say in these areas. That said, I do believe we should be able to vote in national elections and issues. Far too many people bring their own ‘hometown’ views and opinions to a county or state they know nothing about.
I lean to the county’s perspective as well. While every citizen deserves to be heard (vote counted), their vote should be relevant to their daily life. Mail forwarding is a service, not a domicile. Voting on issues/people that your mail might encounter but not you seems a bit overzealous.
TLDR: If you don’t own property in a state, the politics of that state should not be yours to decide. Federal votes should count regardless.
So you would take the right to vote away from renters? from people who live in independent and assisted living facilities? I do not believe that property ownership is a constitutional requirement for voting in any jurisdiction in the United States.
I agree xctraveler. IMHO, It should be based on tax returns. A FEDERAL election ballot should be linked to taxes. Not whether you paid taxes or not but whether you filed or not. File an extension, no problem, you get a ballot. Pay a $1,000,000 get one ballot. Pay $1, get one ballot.
Don’t file, forfeit your vote.
States that have State Taxes could do the same, don’t file don’t vote.
There is a huge difference between a PO box as a “domicile” and living in a rental property. Rental units and multi family units are considered domiciles. They also pay property taxes, even though it is done indirectly by their rental payments. They also still live and pay sales tax in their community. Even as a FT RVer we had a problem with others that stretched that gray area of domicile. We chose not to stretch that gray area and had a domicile not a PO Box.
RVers pay property tax. We pay property tax on our RV every year
Do you mean that if you rent a home or apartment, or live with your parents you should not be able to vote?
I do not mean that. I am saying a mail forwarding service is a service, not a domicile.
The suggestion that because a person pays for a service in a given state they’re entitled to vote in said state is questionable at best.
You mention living with your parents or you rent in Nebraska but you use a mail forwarding service out of Montana. Does paying for that service qualify you as a Montana citizen with rights to vote Montana politics?
TLDR: Residency is determined by where you live, not where the person forwarding your mail lives.
We are full-time RV’ers who pay for our vehicle registration every year, and when we come to town we support the economy by paying for the campground we stay in, eating at local restaurants, and we paid out the nose for our use tax on the truck and trailer when we first chose SD.
At first it was advertised we are welcome.
We followed all of the rules to gain domicile status.
And now we are 3 years in, and you want to take away our rights to vote.
We have never participated in your local elections, we don’t feel that is our place to do so. But we have every right as American born Citizens who have never been incarcerated, to be able to vote in the General Elections.
I don’t know how residents with post box’s have their mail addressed, But I do know some businesses will not deliver to post office boxes. Maybe contact the state democratic party about being keep from voting. They are greedy for votes and ruthless.
This is a tough issue. Although I believe every legal citizen has the right (and civic duty) to vote, I see the county’s point on local election outcomes being affected by non-domiciled residents. IMO a reasonable compromise would be to accept absentee ballots for national elections, but NOT for State, and local elections/referendums. This of course would create it’s own problems. But as I have stated before on this issue; this is the price for artificially inflating census counts, by states that allow non-domiciled residency. The benefit is increased congressional seats, which is cheating the system IMO.
I find myself in full agreement with your post Sven. Counting illegal immigrants in the census creates representation in Congress for people that should not even be here and dilutes the representation of voting citizens.
You hit the nail on the head. To have someone that does not live in my county deciding the politics of my county IS NOT RIGHT.
Both sides have valid points – and here is my take: As a U.S. citizen, you certainly have a Constitutional right to vote in all Federal elections. The gotcha, is I am unaware of any easy means to vote unless you are also domiciled in a U.S. State or Territory – – note that being domiciled is not quite the same as being resident in a specific political subdivision. The electoral college is based around State delegates, who in turn are appointed based on voters from within that State or Territory.
In my opinion, the SD situation could go before SCOTUS with a finding that every State must provide a means to vote in all Federal elections. Whether or not the individual can vote in State or local elections will be determined on a State by State basis.
How SCOTUS settled in would decide on which political party the judges are attached to.We have already seen that fiasco.
Winning!!!!!
If there is a property ownership and 30 day residency requirement enacted in state law, then they are petitioning for the state to break the law. Change the law. If the elected officials don’t change the law, then change the elected officials by voting them out. But don’t ask to break the law.
I do not agree with restricting a person’s right to vote just because of a mailbox service. We use the mail service because we travel to Texas often to help care for my 94yo dad.. at this time it isn’t feasible for us to own a home.
Very nice conversation below. I agree with those that think both sides have valid points. I also lean a bit towards the State/County position in as much as all elections are run by the State and Counties so State and County laws remain in effect and should be enforced. Change the laws by changing the law makers is the process.
The following link was provided below by Notch, as the first comment on this article. It is an important link, especially now! As a US Citizens, we have an obligation to be informed and to VOTE!
https://ballotpedia.org/Laws_permitting_noncitizens_to_vote_in_the_United_States#Details_about_noncitizen_voting_in_local_elections
(go to the bottom or copy and paste).
Thank you for reposting this and thank you Notch for the same.
Ballots versus Votes.
The question here should simply be “is one a legal resident of SD” & if so they should be allowed to vote as such. If one has established legal residency in SD as specified by the state such as by obtaining a drivers license & filing tax returns as a resident of SD shouldn’t they be legally entitled to vote in SD? What then is the County Auditor’s motive in seeking to deny certain SD residents their right to have their vote counted? This is not a political forum but one has to question her motives in seeking to do so.
Sorry, Brad. I just noticed that our sometimes-overzealous filter put your comment into the Spam folder.🙄 I have no idea why. Have a great day. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
I often have issues getting past your re-captcha. Today I had to reload the site 3x before it allowed me to post. On other sites I have never been able to satisfy re-captcha. They use the small grainy pictures that we are asked to choose from to satisfy them. Being visually handicapped that makes it impossible to see what they are looking for.
Sorry, Brad. But thank you for the explanation. I’ll send your comment to our IT guy, Kim, and see if he has any suggestions, since I know nothing about that Take care. 😀 –Diane at RVtravel.com
Hi Big Sis. I have one approved but not posted currently too. Tough day for captcha. ✌️😎
Sorry, Cancel. Someone else trashed it at the same time as I was approving it, apparently. When I looked at the history (who did what with it) I decided I’d better leave it in the trash. Getting too political. Have a good evening. 🙂 –Diane
Didn’t seem political but I guess with Secret Service escorting #45 out of a rally, as we speak, timing is bad. Better to let it all rest a bit, no doubt and I agree with the decision you made. Sad times.
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You can choose to vote in the local elections or just the national.
What do you mean by “involved with the community”? Is this a requirement to vote?
If that period is your entire reply, MrDisaster, you win the prize for the briefest comment ever here.🏆😉 (Although I have no idea what it means.🤔) Have a great day! 😀 —Diane
Well, I guess a period IS a shorter, smaller reply than a smiley. 🙂
Yep. I don’t think there is anything smaller than a period for a reply, or it would be invisible.😉 –Diane
If full-time RVing SD residents can’t vote, then they better not be called in for jury duty.
Interesting observation. I’m not a full-timer, but what does happen if you are full-time, using a mail forwarding service? Do you get jury service notices, and if so, do you have to return to serve?
We are full-time RVers and my husband has been called for jury duty for the month of October.
Sounds like a lawsuit just waiting to happen on a national level. Citizens HAVE A RIGHT TO VOTE. No matter what some state politician says. There are only a few restrictions and not being a full time resident ISN’T one of them. If they are registered in that state, then their vote is supposed to count in that state.
I can see the county’s point. LIVE here and you can vote.
I agree with having to provide a valid U.S. ID to vote. Not sure how this would play out for this.