[EL] Romney's residency

Mon Aug 20 09:20:51 PDT 2012

Michael, you're going to have to go back and re-read my posts. Right now you're just making stuff up about what I've said in the past.

Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault 
  Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 East Broad Street
Columbus, OH 43215
(614) 236-6317
bsmith at law.capital.edu
http://www.law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.asp

-----Original Message-----
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu [mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Michael McDonald
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 12:09 PM
To: 'Election Law'
Subject: Re: [EL] Romney's residency

If you don't see the election law issues, then re-read the stories. An election complaint has been filed against Romney in the state of Massachusetts alleging vote fraud resulting from a falsified address. This would be Romney's second time his Massachusetts residency status has been questioned, the previous time resulting in the paying of back taxes. The Crawford plaintiff at least owned an Indiana home, I believe, but Romney owned no Massachusetts home. His registration address was his son's (allegedly unfinished) basement, and there are witnesses that claim Romney was no longer living in the area.

I believe that I agree with you Brad that we should give strong weight to Romney's judgment as to what he considers his residence. I am disappointed you are unwilling to give the same deference to the Crawford plaintiff. The Massachusetts board that investigates the allegation against Romney might not, either. That is what my questions were aimed towards. Is the board partisan? Can it force Romney to divulge tax returns; the reporter approvingly quotes Hans von Spakovsky that tax returns "are crucial evidence in residency disputes" (the unfortunate angle that ignited the flames, but also raises the importance of the story since it fits into an existing meme)? What information would it release and would it do so before the November election? 

We have the following election law issues: vote fraud, residency status, and partisan election administration. It is not the first time we've discussed where a candidate or elected official allegedly falsified their registration address.

I hope Brad's label of "taxers" was not leveled at me since I never offered an opinion about Romney's tax returns. I just assume the issue has become politicized, which is why I am interested in my questions about the Massachusetts board. Labeling people as "taxers" does nothing to help the discourse here. I recall some time ago conservatives on the list were outraged at the label "tea baggers" (I apologize for saying it, as I do not call Tea Party activists by that name) and I thought we agreed that we would stop calling people names that they do not call themselves. I've got a good comeback to "taxers" -- "tax evaders" -- but do we really need to go there?
Perhaps the rule should be if you need to put it in scare quotes, think twice about writing it. If I've been guilty of it in the past, I apologize.
This is a plea for self-censorship. Everyone is free to write what they want, of course, but we will lose more people like Keith Gaddie to the detriment to us all. Sometimes, I think that is a purpose: to shut this list-serve down by making it so toxic no one wants to read it (anyone else watch Newsroom?).

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

                             Mailing address:
(o) 703-993-4191             George Mason University
(f) 703-993-1399             Dept. of Public and International Affairs
mmcdon at gmu.edu               4400 University Drive - 3F4
http://elections.gmu.edu     Fairfax, VA 22030-4444

-----Original Message-----
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[mailto:law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] On Behalf Of Smith, Brad
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 9:26 AM
To: 'Election Law'
Subject: Re: [EL] Romney's 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?"

- No, I think what I wrote in another thread is accurate. I wrote that voter ID laws can prevent ineligible persons from voting in situations other than voter impersonation fraud. I don't see that anything Michael writes contests that or would give me pause for further thoughts on that point. I also wrote that that function didn't necessarily justify voter photo ID laws. I don't see anything Michael writes that contests that, or would give me pause for further thoughts on that subject.

By the way, my thoughts were on the use of photo ID as one form of evidence regarding residency, not that having an ID from a state "establish[ed] residency," a small but important difference.

If Romney's candidacy does nothing more than trim back the ridiculous idea that candidates must release their tax returns for umpteen plus one years, he will have done the nation a service. 

"Truthers:" Those who believe the U.S. Government was behind, or collaborated in, the attacks of 9/11/01, and demand that the government disprove their unsupported allegations.

"Birthers:" Those who insist that Barack Obama was born outside the U.S., and demand that the President disprove their unsupported allegations.

"Taxers:" Those who insist that a failure to publicly release one's tax return is evidence of wrongdoing - including, perhaps, voting illegally - and demand that Governor Romney disprove their unsupported allegations.

I've little interest in any of the three categories, and really see no connection to election law in such speculative allegations.

Bradley A. Smith
Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault
   Professor of Law
Capital University Law School
303 E. Broad St.
Columbus, OH 43215
614.236.6317
http://law.capital.edu/faculty/bios/bsmith.aspx

________________________________________
From: law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu
[law-election-bounces at department-lists.uci.edu] on behalf of Michael McDonald [mmcdon at gmu.edu]
Sent: Monday, August 20, 2012 8:53 AM
To: 'Election Law'
Subject: [EL] Romney's residency

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

                             Mailing address:
(o) 703-993-4191             George Mason University
(f) 703-993-1399             Dept. of Public and International Affairs
mmcdon at gmu.edu               4400 University Drive - 3F4
http://elections.gmu.edu     Fairfax, VA 22030-4444

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