[EL] Romney's residency

[Michael McDonald]

Unfortunately, the thread on Romney's tax returns quickly diverted away from
the election law issues that were in the original story.

To recap the original story, Romney claimed on a voter registration
application that he lived in the basement of his son's Massachusetts home,
and voted from that address in the 2010 special election to replace Ted
Kennedy. The original story that Rick posted cited interviews of locals who
claimed Romney did not live in Massachusetts at that time. Additional
reporting in this story investigated home assessment records that indicate
the basement was unfinished at the time Romney claimed residence:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/brendancoffey/2011/06/15/did-mitt-romney-live-in
-his-sons-unfinished-basement-last-year/  

A complaint has been filed by Romney's Republican primary opponent Fred
Karger with Massachusetts election officials alleging Romney committed vote
fraud.

However you feel about Karger, Romney, and Obama, I suspect that we will see
more of this story for many political reasons that would divert attention
away from the specific election law issues. But I would like to bring up the
election law issues for the very reason that we may hear more about the
story:

- What is the governing body in Massachusetts for these sorts of
allegations? It is not described in the stories. Is it a partisan body?

- Can Massachusetts election officials demand to see Romney's tax returns to
establish his residency as part of their formal investigation? They did so
previously when Romney moved to Utah for the Olympics and then later claimed
Massachusetts residency for his gubernatorial run. Massachusetts law
requires seven years of uninterrupted residence to run for governor. Romney
ultimately settled the issue by paying back state taxes. I do not think that
the election officials would publicly release what may be turned over to
them, but (as the quickly devolving discourse on the list indicates) it may
be damaging to Romney if they cite a discrepancy between his tax returns and
his voter registration as a cause for action.

- What sort of time table might the Massachusetts election officials operate
by? I.e., is it possible that they would release findings before November?

- Prior to this story, we were coincidentally discussing residency. Now that
the veil of ignorance has been peeled away at bit, I wonder if Brad Smith
has further thoughts about the use of photo id to establish residency? Brad
alleged information provided by a Crawford plaintiff revealed she likely
lived in Florida, not Indiana. Applying a similar standard, was Romney
likely a resident of Massachusetts given that he claims to have lived in his
son's basement even though he owned multi-million dollar homes in other
states? I believe that Romney has the right, as the courts have affirmed for
students and others, to determine his residence based on where he intends to
live. A state-issued photo identification is secondary to a person's
intention, and is not really proof since the id could be fraudulently
obtained. If I were on the board that will evaluate the vote fraud
allegation, I would weigh Romney's personal choice of residence quite
heavily, which is what I gather the board did when the issue of his
residency previously arose.

============
Dr. Michael P. McDonald
Associate Professor, George Mason University
Non-Resident Senior Fellow, Brookings Institution

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