I live a bit up the road from Quartzite. I totally understand the BS going on there. Always has operated by their own rules. Makes lots of money from the snowbirds/swap meets.
What I will never get is how and why the state has allowed such absolute criminality to go on for so long. Granted, it’s a hole in the wall filled with eccentrics, but most are good people and all have the same rights we do...or should.
Who are the real criminals or crackpots -- or are both sides criminals and crackpots?
As for the councilman who wasn't seated due to the incumbents' claim he wasn't a resident ... well, if you read the linked AZCentral article, there is another detail reported there that makes me think he was, in fact, not a resident of Quartzsite.
That little detail is the fact that he was registered to vote last year in Yuma.
We had a funny little controversy in NJ over something like that. Some famous athlete, Carl Lewis, wanted to run for high office in NJ. Christie's Secretary of State refused to put him on the ballot. Why? Because Lewis had voted in California for the last 5 or so years, not NJ.
Carl Lewis sued; but the last word of the court was that his CA voting history was sufficient proof of his lack of primary residency in NJ.