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Question of the Day - 10 January 2019

Q:

I know there must be many people that have Las Vegas IDs (not drivers licenses), but don't live there. They just want to receive all of the benefits that the locals get when they visit Vegas. Is it possible that they can actually vote in their home state and also vote in Las Vegas?

A:

We could write a book about the continuing controversies over voter fraud, but obviously, that's far beyond the scope of our mission. 

Instead, we put your question about double voting to the Nevada Secretary of State's office and received the exact response we were expecting. "Someone can have only ONE permanent residence. So if you maintain a permanent residence in Nevada and that is verified by your local County Clerk, you may register to vote in Nevada."

The secretary’s office also pointed us to Nevada Revised Statute 293.493, which says succinctly, "If a person removes to another state, territory, or foreign country with the intention of establishing his or her domicile there, the person thereby loses his or her residence in this state."

Yes, you can try to game the system by registering to vote in two states, then voting early or by mail in your home state and in person on Election Day in Nevada, or vice versa. But then you're risking falling afoul of the law, with penalties of up to five years in prison and  $10,000 in fines for citizens and deportation for non-citizens.

 

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Comments

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  • Terence Jan-10-2019
    It is easier than you think
    If you move to Las Vegas from another state, chances are excellent that you are still listed to vote at the polls there.  Most states cull the voting rolls after you miss a certain number of elections, but there is almost no mechanism for someone to check who actually lives there.  The catch is that if you want to get away with it consistently, you should show up in person to vote.  Absentee ballots are counted by hand at the polling place where you are registered. Since there are usually not a great many absentee ballots, someone is likely to notice that you file one for every election. This is a great deal of trouble and expense to go through and would not really be feasible to do in big enough numbers to sway a national election.

  • Randall Ward Jan-10-2019
    strange question 
    most people don't vote at all, can't imagine that very many would go to the trouble voting more than once.

  • Jetpilotrick Jan-10-2019
    Benefits
    Why should you get benefits of being a local if you don’t reside here full time?  Plus, trying to scam the voting system of Nevada if your not a permanent resident?  Vote in the state your a resident of!  Seems like more voter fraud!

  • Dave in Seattle. Jan-10-2019
    I don't vote.
    The last 3 times that I did,I got called in for jury duty.
     I refused,each time. No more of that!

  • Deke Castleman Jan-10-2019
    This in via email
    "In response to Jetpilotrick he’s right, this would be voter fraud. I would also say that there are many documented cases of these loopholes being exploited by dead, convicted, or non-citizen voters. It is definitely a problem.
    
    With that said, there are often very good reasons for letting non-residents be part of the local political process. Case in point being the recent Measure T in South Lake Tahoe, where locals voted by a mere 58 vote margin to restrict the rights of hundreds of non-resident property owners who had no vote at all.
    
    Terence noted it’d be difficult to gather enough fraudulent votes to make a difference, but often in local matters that’s not the case. Every election cycle there are small municipalities with election and ballot measures passed by small numbers of votes (especially for mid term elections with lower voter turnout)."

  • Kevin Lewis Jan-10-2019
    Not anything more than a manufactured issue
    Actually, voter fraud is very rare. It was inflated to be a serious matter by a certain lying orange person, but the truth is that it isn't prevalent at all. Think about it. Why would anyone commit a serious felony in order to be able to vote one extra time? And even at the municipal level--does anybody seriously think that there's anyone willing to risk going to prison for fraud in order to slightly influence the passage of a sewer construction bond initiative?
    
    Yet, a certain semi-human claims that over three million people recently did just that---but election fraud is actually about as common as Megabucks jackpots.