Opinion: Fallen Leaf Lake residents on USFS land cannot vote

Publisher’s note: This email is reprinted with permission. It relates to the April 29, 2012, Lake Tahoe News story about who is legally allowed to vote at Fallen Leaf Lake.

Our Region 5 Recreation Residence policy includes the following:

“Principal Residence The principal residence can be a house, apartment, mobile home, or other reasonable domicile, either owned or rented, and must be open and available to the permit holder at all times. The principal residence cannot be simply an address used to give the appearance of living in a home elsewhere. It must be the place where the permit holder routinely receives mail, is registered to vote, from which children attend school, and from where the permit holder normally commutes to work.”

A recreation residence may *not* be a principal residence. Therefore, regardless of how the term domicile is defined by the state of California, if a permit holder is using the recreation residence to register to vote, it directly conflicts with our policy.

I hope that helps.

Jonathan Cook-Fisher, acting Recreation Special Uses Program Manager, Pacific Southwest Region, U.S. Forest Service