Registering to Vote

I am very confused by this. We used to live in Arizona and now we live in the UK. With a general election coming up we want to register to vote.

If I go through the US Embassy (UK) website it directs me to the Federal Voting Assistance Program website [1]. In this site I have to choose my state of last US residence (AZ) and I have to enter the address I last lived at. After going through the process I now have two printed forms which I send off to the voter registration people.

So, here are some questions about this:

1. In AZ they use your driver's license to determine if you can vote. The driver's license database is somehow linked to a federal citizenship database. We both have AZ licenses with our last address on them, which matches the form. The problem is that you are supposed to tell the state within 10 days if you move and I think technically we were supposed to turn our licenses in. We don't want to do that and we don't want to cause unnecessary problems for ourselves either. What will/could happen here?

2. In the Arizona Revised Statues (ARS) Title 16 section 101 [2] it states that only people physically present in the state can register to vote with one exception. If you have just moved out of the state then you can vote in a presidential election and then your voter registration is cancelled. This doesn't seem to match what the Federal FVAP site says which tells me to register in the last state I lived in. Why is this?

Note: we use a relative's address in AZ for our credit cards and bank accounts so we have a current, valid address. It's just not the address we last lived at. We were registered to vote before we left AZ and didn't cancel that.

[1] http://www.fvap.gov

[2] http://law.justia.com/codes/arizona/2011/title16/section16-101/

Thanks, Andy

https://www.overseasvotefoundation.org/vote/home.htm

We also are in a peculiar situation. Went through the website to be able to get an absentee ballot (Virginia in our case). But....we too have cancelled VA drivers license AND voter registration, because VA aw requires you to do both if you move out of state.

OK, I realize that under federal law I am entitled to an absentee ballot and that is supposed to be issued by the last state of residence. But because VA is a state that likes to claim you forever for state income tax, we are breaking all ties to VA. DH is a dual national, I am USC. We lived in VA for 10 years, but it is not my 'home' state, nor would I ever live there again. As retirees, we do NOT want to pay VA state tax on our SS and UK pension income or state tax on IRA distributions from income earned when I worked in other states. And, since VA uses voter registration as a primary way to 'prove' that you still have ties to the state, it could be a problem, never mind the fact that I have the official letters cancelling our voter registration.

Unless I find a way around this, I will not be voting, and that just doesn't seem right. I always voted, even in local elections where the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Anyone with an opinion here, please tell me what you think.

I now understand my question 2 - Federal law requires all states to allow overseas citizens to register to vote but the state decides whether you are allowed to vote in any non-federal elections.

I just left a message for our AZ accountant asking if I register to vote I then have to pay AZ income tax. That would be a real bummer - a person shouldn't have to pay to be able to vote!

Andy

The US embassy page at [1] states

Note that the UOCAVA provides that voting for Federal offices shall not affect the determination of the voter's place of residence for purpose of any tax imposed under Federal, state or local law. Liability for state income tax, however, may be incurred in some states by voting absentee in state or local elections.

I *think* when going though the FVAP site and creating the registration form you are asked which elections you want to vote in. I'll have to go back and check if there is a Federal only option. That would solve the problem you have for VA.

[1] http://caracas.usembassy.gov/citizen-service/public-services/voter-registration/

Andy

Regarding my question number 1 I think I will just use a photocopy of my passport rather than driver's license to avoid the whole issue.

Andy

If you tick the box on your registration form that says you're a US citizen living abroad indefinitely, your state is supposed to send you a ballot for federal elections only. By registering in this way, you are telling the state affirmatively that you do NOT live there and may never live there again. Therefore they would have no basis to claim you as a resident for tax purposes.

If you tick the box on your registration form that says you're a US citizen living abroad indefinitely, your state is supposed to send you a ballot for federal elections only. By registering in this way, you are telling the state affirmatively that you do NOT live there and may never live there again. Therefore they would have no basis to claim you as a resident for tax purposes.

Exactly.

Thanks. I finally figured that out also. Actually some states (including AZ apparently) allow you to vote in local elections without being liable for income tax, but I don't trust them. We registered for federal only using passport numbers as proof of citizenship.

Andy