RVer votes could affect S.D. election

By Carson Walker, Associated Press Writer | Tuesday, September 21, 2004

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EMERY — The general election isn't until Nov. 2, but South Dakota residents can start voting absentee today.

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 such as 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, Sue Roust, Minnehaha County auditor, said.

"If 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 only 524 votes.

"So 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 in a 38-foot recreational vehicle pulled behind a Dodge pickup.

A year ago, they sold their California home and almost 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 have become residents.

"We 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 such as My Home Address near Emery to help manage their vagabond lifestyle.

Ron Triebwasser and his wife, Judy, run the company, which collects and forwards mail and medicines, registers vehicles, sells insurance and helps sign up voters.

It is 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 home and that critics of his service are being unfair.

"We'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 that 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.

"They spend a ton of money in the Black Hills. Everybody who comes through here stops there for two or three days," he said. "They talk about tourism. It's falling in our lap."

Triebwasser also disputes the suggestion that RV voters will influence a local or state election.

"All 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.

"There's 2½ million RV people out there, and someone's going to get it," he said. "It's good for the economy of South Dakota."

Secretary of State Chris Nelson said nothing is in the works to change the voting process and that there hasn't been much concern about it at the state level.

"The 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. "Full-time RVers or homeless."

Janet Ibis, county auditor in Hanson County, where My Home Address is located, said she has set up a separate precinct to handle returns from about 700 RVers who have registered to vote.

"It is mind-boggling when I walk in with all these envelopes," she said.

In Minnehaha County, Roust plans to examine the numbers after the election to see if RV voters impact 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.

"What 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. "It'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.

"So you can see there's a huge swing," Roust said of the party affiliation.

One thing she is 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.

"When 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. "I think it is a threat to the integrity to our elections."