Questions about the USA.

[Hauldren Collider]

Holy crap, that's a lot of stuff. Is there a service that does it all for you? And I've thought our bureacratic procedures were incomparably bad.

If you live there and have a mail address there, it's not difficult. You just have to demonstrate that you live there most of the year. You also can't have residency in more than one state. (That doesn't mean you can't own a house in more than one state. You just can't have more than one state that you officially reside in.)

As I recall, when we moved to Virginia from Tennessee, my dad just had to show the deed to the house and that was enough, but I might be misremembering.

[Felch]

Holy crap, that's a lot of stuff. Is there a service that does it all for you? And I've thought our bureacratic procedures were incomparably bad.

It's not that bad. If you're moving (as opposed to buying a second home) it's only natural that you'd have your mail sent to a new address, get new state licenses, and all the rest. Once you do that, registering is a breeze.

[Jon Miller]

If you don't have your birth certificate, it is hard.

If you don't have a license, it is hard.

If you live abroad, it is hard.

If you don't have bills, it is hard.

JM

[onodera]

It's not that bad. If you're moving (as opposed to buying a second home) it's only natural that you'd have your mail sent to a new address, get new state licenses, and all the rest. Once you do that, registering is a breeze.

Isn't there a business or even a state service where I can go, give two addresses and a small fee, and they reregister everything to my new address?

[Hauldren Collider]

If you don't have your birth certificate, it is hard.

If you don't have a license, it is hard.

If you live abroad, it is hard.

If you don't have bills, it is hard.

JM

If you live abroad, it shouldn't just be hard, it should be impossible.
Is this just an offshoot of your attempt at social commentary in the voting thread?

[Jon Miller]

If you live abroad, you still have the right to vote in US elections.

My other comments are more relevant, as I said, I know from my brother that this is difficult (he just wanted to have a driver's license again, i think, he probably doesn't vote).

JM

[regexcellent]

Isn't there a business or even a state service where I can go, give two addresses and a small fee, and they reregister everything to my new address?

I would be shocked if there isn't. Capitalism, man.

[Hauldren Collider]

If you live abroad, you still have the right to vote in US elections.

No, you don't.

Puerto Rican's can't vote. Expats can't vote either. Being a US citizen doesn't entitle you to vote. Being a resident of one of the 50 states (or DC following an amendment, can't remember which, 23rd?) does.

[giblets]

So soldiers serving abroad don't have the right to vote?

[regexcellent]

As long as you are a citizen and your permanent residence is still in the United States you can vote, I believe.

[Hauldren Collider]

So soldiers serving abroad don't have the right to vote?

They still have residence in their home state.

As long as you are a citizen and your permanent residence is still in the United States you can vote, I believe.

Correct.

[Jon Miller]

Wrong

"Overseas and nonresident citizens
U.S. citizens residing overseas who would otherwise have the right to vote are guaranteed the right to vote in Federal elections by the Uniformed and Overseas Citizens Absentee Voting Act (UOCAVA) of 1986.[7] As a practical matter, individual states implement UOCAVA.

U.S. citizens who reside in Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, or the United States Virgin Islands are not allowed to vote in U.S. national and presidential elections as these U.S. territories belong to the United States but are not part of the United States (i.e., they are unincorporated territories). The U.S. Constitution requires a voter to be resident in one of the 50 States or in the District of Columbia to vote in Federal elections. To say that the Constitution does not require extension of federal voting rights to U.S. territories residents does not, however, exclude the possibility that the Constitution may permit their enfranchisement under another source of law.[53] A federal lawsuit in the District Court of the Virgin Islands is currently pending to provide Virgin Islanders with the fundamental right to be represented in Congress and vote for U.S. President. The case is Civil No. 3:11-cv-110, Charles v. U.S. Federal Elections Commission. The case alleges it was racial discrimination present in a all white and segregated Congress of 1917 that was the impetus to deny the right to vote to a majority non-white constituency.

A citizen who has never resided in the United States can vote if a parent is eligible to vote in certain states.[54] In some of these states the citizen can vote in local, state and federal elections, in others in federal elections only."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_rights_in_the_United_States#Overseas_and_nonresident_citizens

JM

[regexcellent]

So soldiers serving abroad don't have the right to vote?

They vote with the location of their permanent duty station/where their unit is headquartered. An army man might be able to answer this better than me, but I think if your unit is headquartered in, say, Vicenza or something you can't vote.

[Jon Miller]

It might be that I should just vote again in Virginia.

I was thinking it should be Oregon since I changed my billing address there and lived there for a month when unemployed this last winter.

JM

[Hauldren Collider]

Well. I knew my AP Government teacher wasn't very good. Nevermind, you are correct, Jon.