Multiple Voting

Over a bratwurst lunch Monday in an Alpine mountain pass, Sustenpass, I had an interesting back-and-forth with Bruno Kaufmann, the Swiss-Swedish journalist who is president of the Initiative & Referendum Institute Europe. The subject? Residency and the nature of voting.

Bruno was born Swiss, and remains a citizen. In fact, he's considered a citizen in two different Swiss municipalities to which he and his family have ties. But Bruno lives with his wife and children in Sweden. He votes in all three places (though he only gets a Swiss federal ballot in one of the two Swiss towns). Shocked? This is perfectly legal, since citizenship here is granted locally, not federally.

I objected, arguing at first that this would be illegal in the U.S. and rightly so. He doesn't live in or pay taxes in the Swiss towns. He doesn't have to live daily with the consequences of his votes. But Bruno made several good arguments. Times have changed. People move around more. National identity is fluid--we can have more than one. He feels that he's properly a citizen of more than one place. And he still has deep ties to these Swiss towns.

As I thought about it, I wondered if Bruno might be onto something.