Where am I registered to vote?

This is probably a stupid question, but before I emigrated in 2007, I was registered to vote in California. Once in the UK, I registered with Democrats Abroad and did my vote by absentee ballot. However, my understanding is that I am still registered to vote in California.

I ask this in the tax forum because I am worried that California will still consider me a resident for tax purposes (I haven't set foot in the State for 2 years, but they are tough).

I need to remove myself from the voting rolls in California, but if I do that, I can't re-register in another state because I don't live anywhere else, and therefore won't be able to vote in federal elections.

Would appreciate any advice, as I'd like to vote in federal elections.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe you don't have any choice but to register for the state you last resided in.  I believe that Federal election laws state that they can't use your federal info for any purpose other than voting in federal elections but that there aren't clauses like that for most state and local elections.  So I think you can specify that you only want to be registered for the federal elections and not for the local ones, and they are supposed to follow that--someone else can probably tell better though since it's been a while since I looked at it.

I hope that's not true. One of the things California uses to determine residency is whether you are registered to vote in the state. It sounds like if I want to continue voting I need to pay California 7% of my income...what a scam.

My understanding is that you only need to pay California state tax if you have income from California sources: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/FileRtn/index.shtml

I might be wrong, but I always thought that residency for tax purposes and voting purposes were two different things.

My understanding is that you only need to pay California state tax if you have income from California sources: https://www.ftb.ca.gov/individuals/FileRtn/index.shtml

Unfortunately you have to pay California state tax if you have income from California sources OR if you are a California resident. California has the toughest policy on expats--they often consider you a California resident many years after you leave the state.

I might be wrong, but I always thought that residency for tax purposes and voting purposes were two different things.

Here's the list of things that California looks at to determine whether or not you are still a California resident:

 Amount of time you spend in California versus amount of time you spend outside California.
• Location of your spouse/RDP and children.
• Location of your principal residence.
• State that issued your driver's license.
• State where your vehicles are registered.
• State in which you maintain your professional licenses.
• State in which you are registered to vote.
• Location of the banks where you maintain accounts.
• The origination point of your financial transactions.
• Location of your medical professionals and other healthcare providers (doctors, dentists etc.), accountants, and attorneys.
Location of your social ties, such as your place of worship, professional associations, or social and country clubs of which you are a member.
• Location of your real property and investments.
• Permanence of your work assignments in California.

(That's from www.ftb.ca.gov/forms/2010/10_1031.pdf)

I know it seems obvious that if you don't live there that you shouldn't have to pay taxes there, but California does not see if that way. If you keep your license, voter registration, bank accounts, etc. they say that shows intent to come back. A friend of mine who has been abroad for 9 years just had California place a lien on her bank account because she didn't file California state returns. I want to make sure they don't do that to me!

I have the same issue in Virginia, and in order to 'break ties' I cancelled my voter registration. It breaks my heart not to vote, and even though in THEORY you can vote in federal elections only as a former resident, because VA is like CA, I'm not taking the chance.

just a suggestion but why don't you contact either democrats abroad or the republican equivalent - they're heavily involved in voting and might be able give you more concrete information or assurances - eg, I have a vague memory that there might be constitutional problems if a state used your voting status (alone) to tax you