On September 11, the voters who formerly lived in Illinois, and who now live in Guam, Puerto Rico, and U.S. Virgin Islands, filed this reply brief in the U.S. Supreme Court. The case is Segovia v U.S. The Court has put the case on its October 5 conference.
U.S. citizens who move to a foreign country retain the right to vote absentee, in the state in which they lived before they left the country. In Illinois, if they move to American Samoa or Northern Mariana Islands, they also retain the right to vote absentee in Illinois elections. The only places in the world that are fatal for the ability to continue to vote in Illinois are Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Also District of Columbia, Wisconsin, etc.
14-1 first sentence
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
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13 Amdt and 14-1 written to over-rule the SCOTUS infamous 1857 Dred Scott v Sanford op – one of the major steps to Civil WAR I in 1861-1865.
Sorry — NONE of the USA colonies or Devil City is a STATE [yet].
*reside* in 14-1 means *something*.
Difference between *temporary* reside and *permanently* reside outside of original State.
Legal conclusion of Segovia = X
Solve for X — possible even for the SCOTUS 8/9 ??????
I just scanned the brief, but don’t U S military personnel station in Guam, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands have the ability to vote using the Federal Write-in Absentee Ballot? If they do not, when did Congress make the exception, since Congress not state legislatures are the final authority of times, places and manner of elections including ballot formats? Should not civilians have the same right to vote in their home state as the military?
A student can look up the IL definition of Elector-Voter [IL Const / law] and post it ASAP.
@DFR, Military personnel are not domiciled at their duty station unless they choose to be. It is considered a temporary assignment and the service member has close to zero control over when or where they are sent.
If you sell your house, buy a boat and move to the US Virgin Islands and get a job or live on your savings, you no longer live in Oklahoma. You could vote for the VI delegate to Congress and local office holders. The anomaly is that if you instead moved to the British Virgin Islands, you could continue to vote in Oklahoma.
Gee- what happened when an Elector-Voter in a State moved to a USA Territory
— as millions did over the decades
— starting with the olde NW and SW Territories ???
OBVIOUSLY NONE of them could vote in the former home State.
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Absentee voting mainly got going with the Union Army/Navy folks fighting and dying in the Rebel States in 1861-1865
— and with the later larger national / international economy
— in TEMPORARY residences outside home States
— in other States, in other parts of the USA regime and in foreign nations.
The Segovia mess is one more mystification of election LAW by the usual suspects.
@Jim Riley, thanks. So civilians who move to Puerto Rico and buy a house to live temporarily cannot vote in Illinois, but military personnel who buy a house there can still vote in Illinois? What if the civilian still owns a residence in Illinois to which they could return at any time while living in the VI vote in Illinois? Instead of a residence what if the civilian owns a cemetery plot in Illinois? What if the civilian rents a room at a house in Illinois for, say, $1 per year?
In a modern mobile society are any state residency requirements not specified in the U S Constitution really relevant?
Rhetorical questions. Thanks, Jim.
It’s a matter of being able to vote in more than one regions or not, regions within the geo-level which the voter chooses.
There is no national data base for verification, validation and confirmation between all the states and territories but were it to exist then problem solved.
If I understand correctly, this case only relates to former residents of Illinois. Is there any reference that states the case of voters who move from other states?
@DFR,
Domicile depends largely on intent. It gets complicated when residence can bifurcate. In Texas you can get an ID for voting purposes only, for no cost (this was so Texas could require picture ID, and not have it considered a poll tax). Most people would have a driver’s license or a personal ID (like a driver’s license and issued by TXDOT, but without driving privileges). To get a Voter ID, you can’t have a driver’s license or personal ID. But there was one woman who wanted a voter ID. She went to TXDOT, and somewhere along the line was told that she had to get a Texas driver’s license within X days (60?) of moving to Texas. But she said she didn’t want to surrender her California driver’s license – she lived part of the year in Texas and part of the year in California (I’m sure she insisted in being a California resident for state income tax purposes (/snark)). She wanted to vote in Texas, but be licensed to drive in California (which can be used in Texas).
Hawaii excludes non-permanent residents from populations used for legislative districts. Hawaii has a large military population relative to its population, and it is concentrated on Oahu near Pearl Harbor. There are navy, air force, and army, bases. The military has up to three addresses associated with military personnel (1) where you entered service; (2) where you want to be paid; and (3) where you want to (not) pay state income taxes. Hawaii excludes those who did not enter service from Hawaii or pay taxes there – inferring that there was not intent to domicile in Hawaii after service. But military personnel can vote in Hawaii.
It might be simpler if you could only have one federal residence, and the federal government kept track of this. You wouldn’t even have to register to vote, since the federal government could inform the state when you change residence. They could also rat out those who are evading state income taxes and license requirements.
@WZ,
The federal law only covers federal elections. Persons who reside in Puerto Rico can vote in federal elections (for resident commissioner). Federal law only treats American Samoa as a special case, because US citizens who are not from Samoa don’t have full rights there, abd why those born in American Samoa are not US Citizens, but US nationals.
Illinois has copied the federal law, but messed up on Northern Marianas – it might not have been a territory when the Illinois statute was written, or because they are incompetent or corrupt.
States in general may be more reluctant to let former residents to vote for governors, legislators, mayors, etc.
Justice JR-
Amdt 14-1 first sentence
All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside.
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*wherein they reside* in 14-1 means *something*
— that even the SCOTUS HACKS should be able to detect ???
What State does NOT require that ONLY adult USA Citizens *residing* in such State may be Electors-Voters of such State ???
Does a person *reside* in a trash dumpster, in a tent, in a vacant building, under a freeway bridge, etc. ???