Posted on 09/21/2004 2:08:14 PM PDT by churchillbuff
Roving Voters Could Impact S.D. Election By CARSON WALKER Associated Press Writer
EMERY -- The general election isn't until Nov. 2, but South Dakota residents can start voting absentee on Tuesday.
And two of those ballots will come from Frank and Patsy Norton, RVers who call South Dakota home but travel the country and live in campgrounds or wherever else the road leads them.
These roving voters concern some county auditors, who wonder if their absentee ballots could sway close races like the U.S. Senate contest between Democratic Sen. Tom Daschle and Republican John Thune.
Such residents could cast deciding votes without having to live with the results, said Sue Roust, Minnehaha County auditor.
ŒŒIf this Senate race is as close as two years ago, these out-of-state voters could definitely impact it,'' Roust said.
In 2002, incumbent Democratic Sen. Tim Johnson beat Thune by just 524 votes.
ŒŒSo many of them say they only want to vote for president. But they get a ballot with all the names on it so we don't know who they're voting for,'' Roust said.
Frank and Patsy Norton, at 71 and 68, no longer pay property taxes because they live out of a 38-foot recreational vehicle pulled behind a Dodge pickup.
A year ago, they sold their California home and pretty much everything else they owned.
And like others who want to take advantage of South Dakota's lack of a state income tax and low vehicle registration fees, they've become residents.
ŒŒWe picked up and came here from California to see where we're from,'' Frank Norton said during a stop in the state.
The Nortons, and other out-of-state voters, are turning to businesses like My Home Address Inc. near Emery to help with their vagabond lifestyle.
Ron Triebwasser and his wife, Judy, run the company that collects and forwards mail and medicines, registers vehicles, sells insurance and helps sign up voters.
It's run out of a trailer house attached to their home. One end of the crowded office is lined with tables covered with folders and mail slots.
Ron Triebwasser said he now has more than 1,000 customers who call his farm place home, and critics of his service are being unfair.
ŒŒWe've been accused of telling people how to vote and we do not do that,'' he said.
Triebwasser said his customers spend an average of $1,500 when they visit the state on gas, food and supplies, and hundreds of thousands of dollars a year go to county and state governments through vehicle license and registration and sales taxes.
A lot of them buy vehicles here but rarely use the roads, he said.
And when they come to South Dakota, they hit the tourist attractions from one end of the state to the other, Triebwasser said.
ŒŒThey spend a ton of money on the Black Hills. Everybody who comes through here stops there for two or three days,'' he said. ŒŒThey talk about tourism. It's falling in our lap.''
Triebwasser also disputes the suggestion that RV voters will influence a local or state election.
ŒŒAll they want to do is vote for president and the national things,'' he said.
Triebwasser said South Dakota leaders should see it as an opportunity because his business alone supports two people full-time and four part-time employees.
ŒŒThere's 2 1/2 million RV people out there and someone's going to get it,'' he said. ŒŒIt's good for the economy of South Dakota.''
Secretary of State Chris Nelson said nothing is in the works to change the process and there hasn't been much concern about it at the state level.
ŒŒThe fact of the matter is every person who is a citizen of the United States and a resident of South Dakota has the right to vote here,'' he said. ŒŒFull-time RVers or homeless.''
Janet Ibis, the county auditor in Hanson County, where My Home Address Inc., is located, said she has set up a separate precinct to handle returns from the roughly 700 RVers who have registered to vote.
ŒŒIt is mind boggling when I walk in with all these envelopes,'' she said.
In Minnehaha County, Roust plans to look at the numbers after the election to see if RV voters do impact any elections.
More than 1,700 voters in Minnehaha County now list permanent residences as a motel or campground -- a sign of a roving voter, she said.
ŒŒWhat I'm told from people who are RVers from here who winter in the South is in Arizona, you go into a campground where RVs are and they say half the RVs have South Dakota plates,'' she said. ŒŒIt's becoming more and more obvious to everybody.''
In one precinct in western Sioux Falls, there have already been 579 requests for absentee ballots, compared to the normal 10 to 30, Roust said.
The permanent residents registered in that precinct are 43 percent Democrat and 40 percent Republican, but the RV voters are 27 percent Democrat and 46 percent GOP, she said.
ŒŒSo you can see there's a huge swing,'' Roust said of the party affiliation.
One thing she's seeing more of is voter registration forms and absentee ballots that don't include a physical address.
Roust returns those to the senders and plans to pursue legal action against anyone trying to break election law.
ŒŒWhen we see one that it looks like they haven't set foot in this state, I am going to take it to the state's attorney,'' she said. ŒŒI think it is a threat to the integrity to our elections.''
Hmmm. RVs --- rolling thunder for the GOP? The Dems have the Hells Angels, the Republicans have the Righteous Retiree Road-Warriors?
My wife's folks sold theie California home and became RVers 18 months ago. Guess where they are right now? South Dakota. This is real. And of course they vote Republican.
Two more for Thune!
Maybe we can ship enough retirees to South Dakota part-time, to overcome the Dems' ghost voting on Indian reservations?
All of us have to live with Tiny Tom.
Strange they don't sound worried about the snowbirds that flock to Florida each winter. Many are registered to vote in Florida and their home state.
KERRY'S FINGER
June 02, 2004
www.washingtontimes.com
"Democratic senator — and certain presidential nominee — John F. Kerry, gave the middle finger to a Vietnam veteran at the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Memorial Day morning," NewsMax.com reported yesterday.
"Ted Sampley, a former Green Beret who served two full tours in Vietnam, spotted Kerry and his Secret Service detail at about 9 a.m. Monday morning at the Wall. Sampley walked up to Kerry, extended his hand and said, 'Senator, I am Ted Sampley, the head of Vietnam Veterans Against John Kerry, and I am here to escort you away from the Wall because you do not belong here.'
"At that point, a Secret Service officer told Sampley to back away from Kerry. Sampley moved about 6 feet away and opened his jacket to reveal a HANOI JOHN T-shirt," NewsMax reported.
"Kerry then began talking to a group of schoolchildren. Sampley then showed the T-shirt to the children and said, 'Kerry does not belong at the Wall because he betrayed the brave soldiers who fought in Vietnam.'
"Just then, Kerry — in front of the schoolchildren, other visitors and Secret Service agents — brazenly 'flashed the bird' at Sampley and then yelled out to everyone, 'Sampley is a felon!'
"Kerry was referring to an incident 12 years ago when Sampley confronted Sen. John McCain's chief aide, Mark Salter, in a Senate stairwell after McCain repeatedly offended POW families at a Senate POW hearing. Sampley, whose father-in-law at that time was MIA in Laos, followed Salter into the stairwell and, when they emerged, Salter had a bloody lip and a broken nose."
Bad news for Daschle, I'd say.
What do they mean "they vote but they don't have to live with it".
We are talking about a Senator. What the voters of one state do we all have to live with!!!!
Unfortunately, currently my state has two DemonRat Senators, but hopefully Mel Martinez will start the correction process....
Check out the website www.swingvoter.com
They represent the other side, and advocate students, retirees, etc. registering in the swing state, where their vote will help Kerry the most, not necessarily in their home state.
Are we faring better among RVs or LVs?
that's interesting.
What is it with midwesterners and RVs? I've spent most of my life in the NYC area and don't know ANYONE who has owned an RV, even in suburbia.
Not just the midwest. I read that Justice Clarence Thomas owns one and spends much of the summer driving the country, staying in RV parks - and generally getting out among common-sense salt-of-earth Americans, and away from the arrogant eggheads of D.C. and Northern Virginia.
We like driving around in our living room.
5 years ago, a pair of our customers set out to be road warriors. South Dakota registration, driver's licenses -- they maybe spend two weeks a year in that state. They'll likely be voting, and they're both rabid Daschle fans.
Wonder if their absentee ballots have arrived yet.
Tom Daschle is certainly someone I would relocate to SD for - just for the mere pleasure of voting against.
We used to own one. We live in Florida, and we're far from being retired. It was an easy way to take Civil war battlefield trips with a very young child.
But I can't imagine living in one.
People out here in Washington are shocked that I have never gone "camping," unless you count the time I slept in Central Park.
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