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Nonresident property owners should not get a vote

May 2, 2023

Nonresident property owners who wish to vote in local elections can certainly do so. But they would need to switch their full-time residency to where they own property and stop voting at their previous home address. That's because American voting rights are granted to individuals based on where they live at the time of an election, not property ownership. 

Most states abolished property qualifications for voting in the early 1800s. Granting additional voting rights to property owners on top of their residency rights at their home addresses is deeply undemocratic and would violate the basic principle of "one person, one vote" at the heart of modern voting rights.

To be clear, there are a multitude of ways for nonresidents to participate in civic life, including participating in meetings, serving on advisory bodies and supporting candidates for local office. But the idea that someone who can afford housing in two places should get two votes is simply unfair to the other voters in that area as well as the voters in their home district.

Aaron Huertas
Lewes

 

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