NPR: RV Residents Purged from Voter Rolls in Tennessee

RV Residents Purged from Voter Rolls in Tennessee

It's an American tradition — hitting the open road, seeing the country, no ties to hold you back. I had always imagined doing it in something like a Volkswagen Beetle after college. These days, it's popular for Americans to take off in their RVs after they retire.

But in Tennessee, as Audie Cornish explained on Day to Day, there's a price for wanderlust — you can lose the right to vote. The Tennessee legislature recently passed amendments to state voting laws requiring voters to have a residential address. So officials in Bradley County told 286 people who live in their RVs full-time that they are being removed from the voter rolls. All list their addresses through a mail-forwarding service, Mail Call USA. Tennessee does not allow people to list commercial businesses as their official residences unless they actually live there.

But the RVers are fighting back with the help of the American Civil Liberties Union. They're suing the Tennessee government to put them back on the rolls, saying that they shouldn't be penalized for their lifestyle. Tennessee has no official requirement for the amount of time needed to establish residency — if it did, they say they would have complied.

But Tennessee officials aren't impressed with those arguments. "You can't establish residency by wanting to live somewhere ... it means actually physically moving here," said Brook Thompson, the state's coordinator of elections.

Interesting problem, especially as more Americans look at adopting this kind of lifestyle as they get older. What do you think? Should people without residential addresses be allowed to vote, or is there too high a risk of someone manipulating an election by having lots of RVers "move" into their state?

2:03 PM ET | 11-28-2007 | permalink

Comments (Send a comment)

Good thing Jed Clampett moved himself to Beverly Hills and got himself a house when he did.

fred call

Sent by fred call | 3:22 PM ET | 11-28-2007

The threat of enough [to make a difference] alternate-life-style people coming to a consensus about politics and then, moving en masse to a single state, is about as likely as getting the RNC to admit they illegally deleted a hundred thousand names off the Florida Voter Registers and stole a national election.

Sent by Michael S. Bean | 3:46 PM ET | 11-28-2007

Perhaps if the AARP folks started to vote a certain way.............

Sent by liz | 3:47 PM ET | 11-28-2007

Voting is a fundamental right we have as citizens of this nation and it deserves protection. While I believe that after working for many many years you deserve to enjoy your retirement in any manner you choose, you also should realize that this doesn't necessarily mean we bend the rules around your lifestyle. We have voter fraud issues in this country. Big issues. At what point is it ok for us to protect our fundamental right? And how far do we go? I don't think voter id and other laws are unconstitutional. I tire of these arguments. The baby boomers are only thinking of themselves and not of the greater good for voting and to defeat voter fraud in this country. Seems to me that we are back in the 60s again, but this time they are not barefoot and stoned. But still selfish.

Sent by Linda | 7:07 PM ET | 11-28-2007

The RV's must be registered somewhere. If they are registered in Tennessee, are the owners principal residence, and the owners are paying taxes in Tennessee, then those owners should have a right to vote in Tennessee. This policy also begs the question of the homeless. If you lose your apartment, do you also lose your right to vote? Having a fixed residence is not a requirement of citizenship, it should not be a requirement for voting either.

Sent by David Conant | 10:43 PM ET | 11-28-2007

The idea that people are going to plan their choice of location and therefore the state in which they could vote is laughable. Perhaps a smatering would be so motivated but would it really have a measureable effect? People could use the state/town of the last real physical address and do an absentee ballot. Or like my folks, they use one of their kids address(mine). Its the least I can do, since I used their address as my "legal" address for all my transient years.
However, the formerly rebellious, now conservitive, made enough, is environmentally irresponsible enough to drive their house around, aged boomers are likely republicans and I couldn't really care less if they get to vote. They are a generally selfish, self-serving lot. The less self-serving, aged boomers are home (note: w/physical address) working on non-profits or volunteering for habitate for humanity.

Sent by Julie/Gilford NH | 12:38 AM ET | 11-29-2007

I guess I wont be voting when we're on the Rollin' Real Estate Tour!! Gheez

Sent by Tracy Caywood | 9:33 AM ET | 11-29-2007

I thought we were trying to encourage more people to vote, not fewer.

Sent by julia ann evans | 8:55 AM ET | 12-02-2007

Response to Linda: I have no dog in the RV fight and could not care less whether they lose their franchise.

What I am bothered about is your broad brush. I am a "boomer" who spent 1966 to 1970 in the Marine Corps and '67 to '70 in Viet Nam as an Infantry Radio Operator.

Now, if I want to have an unconventional lifestyle, I think I have earned it. I voted in the '68 election while I was out in the bush doing what my country asked me to do. You need to think about the content of your posts, young lady. You and the rest of this selfish, miserable society owe me.

Sent by Terrence L. Gabriel | 3:41 PM ET | 12-02-2007

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