Revising residency requirements for South Dakota

[cyndi]

As always, thank you to Technomadia for spreading they word that they received from Escapees/Xscapers)

"[font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Senate Bill 164[/font]

[font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]"An Act to revise certain residency requirements for voter registration" has been introduced in the South Dakota Legislature. This bill will impact your voting rights for those Escapees members utilizing South Dakota as your domicile if it passes. The bill was introduced by Senator Tieszen and Representative Herman Otten. It was introduced and read for the first time on February 4, 2016, and was referred to the Senate State Affairs committee on February 5, 2016. As of this writing, it is still in the committee and has not been scheduled for a hearing.[/font]
[font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Voting is an important component to the selection of a domicile and courts have considered this as a factor when domicile issues come before them. Escapees have a long history of supporting and fighting for your rights, and voting is very high on the list of rights for which we fight.
Escapees wants to keep all members aware of this important issue. We will continue to monitor this bill and provide updates as they are available. Please note, Escapees is attempting to reach Tieszen, Otten and the Senate State Affairs committee for comments.
To view the bill, please visit:http://legis.sd.gov/Legislative_Session/Bills/Bill.aspx…
Jim Koca
Advocacy Director"[/font]

 

[akrvbob]

Basically the bill makes it so full-time RVers can't register to vote:

"No person may register to vote using a business location, campground, or post office box as the registration address."

My guess is there goal is to try to comply with the Federal Real ID act and they may have no choice. Nevada has changed also but they only require 30 days at a place to be able to register to vote.

If you don't plan to vote, I'm not sure this will impact you at all.
Bob

 

[SoulRaven]

It makes it difficult when you have people not living in a state electing the officials and deciding on other issues on the ballot. SD has much less population than FL or TX, so the impact could be much greater. My thinking was that SD was not as popular because of something to do with their insurance exchange being limited.

 

[akrvbob]

Yes, if you are too young for Medicaid then you should try to get obomacare. But SD doesn't have any health insurance companies on the Exchange that offer nationwide policiies and since you are never in SD, you can't use their insurance except for emergencies, which are always covered.

It's my understanding that Texas used to have one but that they stopped so right now only Florida does.
Bob

 

[WriterMs]

Yes, if you are too young for Medicaid then you should try to get obomacare. But SD doesn't have any health insurance companies on the Exchange that offer nationwide policiies and since you are never in SD, you can't use their insurance except for emergencies, which are always covered.

My insurance through the healthcare.gov exchange (SD -- Avera Insurance) is that they DO pay if you access healthcare outside of the local provider network. But they pay 40% of the cost (after your deductible) instead of paying 80 or 100%. Emergency room costs are paid anywhere, I believe, but at 75% on my plan.

 

[buckwilk]

Insurance and voting are big issues as are the new enhanced drivers licence's. The government wants to be able to reach out and touch you, often!

 

[Damian Rolling]

I did some research and here are links for anyone interested.

-Discussion thread on the Escapees forum with some insight on bill’s origin:
“Fulltimer Voting in SD Might Be a Thing of the Past”
http://www.rvnetwork.com/index.php?showtopic=121859

-Article in the Rapid City Journal (with comments section):
“Lawmaker wants to purge nomadic RVers from voting rolls”
http://rapidcityjournal.com/news/le...cle_3fbbffc8-2394-5b95-bde7-a38a72841d0f.html

-A blog about South Dakota politics (with comments section):
“Tieszen Files Anti-RV-Voter Bill”
http://dakotafreepress.com/2016/02/05/tieszen-files-anti-rv-voter-bill/

-A blog about South Dakota politics (with comments section):
“Should RV Owners be disqualified from participating in democracy? Maybe they could count as 3/5 citizens……”
http://dakotawarcollege.com/should-rv-owners-be-disqualified-from-participating-in-democracy/

 

[leef]

Yes, if you are too young for Medicaid then you should try to get obomacare. But SD doesn't have any health insurance companies on the Exchange that offer nationwide policiies and since you are never in SD, you can't use their insurance except for emergencies, which are always covered.

It's my understanding that Texas used to have one but that they stopped so right now only Florida does.
Bob

Alabama has at least one nationwide BCBS plan through the national exchange.  I'm on it, and have used it in California, Florida, and Utah with no problems.

 

[Damian Rolling]

Just to close the loop on this thread -

The South Dakota State Senate Affairs Committee voted (8 to 1) to suspend consideration of the bill that would have barred full-time RVers from voting:

http://www.rvbusiness.com/2016/02/s-d-bill-banning-full-timer-voting-rights-tabled/

Damian