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Supervisor concerned about who has right to vote in Highland Co.
BY JAMES JACENICH • STAFF WRITER
 | | David Blanchard, right, newly elected to the Highland County Board of Supervisors, speaks with outgoing supervisor Lee Blagg at last Wednesday's board meeting. Blanchard unseated Blagg Nov. 6 and will begin his first four-year term in January. (Recorder photo by James Jacenich) |
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MONTEREY - Highland County supervisor Jerry Rexrode is concerned about the kinds of folks being allowed to vote in Highland County. He wants the law changed to prevent those who do not live in the county from voting in the county, although according to residency regulations for voters, only those with established residences are allowed to vote.
For now, the board of supervisors has directed county attorney Melissa Dowd to look at the voter registration laws and determine the definition of resident.
Rexrode brought up his concern at the end of last Wednesday's board meeting on the night following general elections. "I've got a question I've sat on the last 60 days," he said. "It's been brought to my attention, according to Roberta (Lambert, county administrator) it was in the paper about absentee landowners registering to vote in Highland County. It seems to be a significant number. I've looked at voter registration lists in the town. There are probably close to 40 or 50 registered in the Monterey district that don't live here, or has moved completely out of the county."
Rexrode said, "I am going to make a motion to authorize legal counsel to look at the statute - what defines residence? And when you define that, I think we need to set down with voter registration people and - I've discussed this with the state - there are certain rules and procedures that you have to go with, but I think what is right is right and what is wrong is wrong."
Board chairman Robin Sullenberger said he was aware of complaints about people voting illegally in Highland County before and the procedure was for the person noting the violation to file a complaint with the board of registration.
"My recollection is that the voter gets to determine what he or she considers his or her domicile," said Dowd.
Rexrode said, "It's got more to do with it than that." He did not elaborate.
Supervisor Lee Blagg quipped, "A post office box is a domicile."
"There's a whole lot of gray area here, I can tell you."
Dowd agreed.
According to the State Board of Elections, to be eligible to register to vote in Virginia a person must be a resident of Virginia, a U.S. citizen and 18 years old at the next general election. Additional requirements include not claiming the right to vote in any other state, not currently declared mentally incompetent by a court of law, and not convicted of a felony if one's right to vote has not been restored.
Virginia's constitution requires a voter to be a resident of the precinct where he seeks to register. Residency means the prospective voter must show he or she has an actual physical place of abode in the precinct and is living there. To be considered living there, one must live in a place with the intent to remain there for an unlimited time and cannot claim domicile or vote in more than one place at one time.
Property ownership is not a requirement to vote. Homeless people and renters can vote.
Registrars consider a number of factors in determining eligibility to vote, among them expressed intent and conduct and all attendant circumstances. That means, among other things, financial independence, business pursuits, employment, income sources, residence for income tax purposes, marital status and children, residence of parents, leaseholds and ownership of real property, and where automobiles and other personal property are registered and taxed.
Highland County voter registrar Alice Shumate explained, " I am bound by the election laws of the Commonwealth of Virginia and there is a due process that needs to be followed when information is received regarding people who no longer live here." It is the responsibility of the voter to keep his or her voter registration up to date, she said. "If the office receives information that people no longer live here, then there is a due process for that." She added that a post office box is not a domicile.
Voters are required to register to vote at least 29 days before the election.
"I have no problem looking at it," said Sullenberger. "We know certainly that there are people that leave and don't get removed from the list, that's a given. But they probably don't come back and vote. Some people do vote because they have a whole lot more interest in what happens here than in the place that they permanently live."
"And they count more," added Dowd.
Rexrode said the number of voters that shouldn't vote in Highland has gone "beyond two or three." He continued, "I think you need to go beyond that and ask the legislators to take a good hard look and define what residence is."
Sullenberger asked for clarity, "All right, you want the attorney to take a look at that to see how clear or unclear it is and, is that your motion?"
"I know how unclear it is. I've made that as a formal motion," said Rexrode.
Blagg seconded the motion and the board asked Dowd to determine the legal definition of residence as it applies to voting.
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