I was reading the latest entry from the Stakeholder, the DCCC blog about Tom DeLay's trouble of still being on the ballot in Texas, when something odd struck me. In his defense to remove himself from the ballot claims:
DeLay who in court Monday declared he was a resident of Virginia and had already voted in that state's Republican primary,
Galveston Daily News
(please jump down, this might be big)
I just moved across Manhattan in February from the Upper East Side to the Upper West side. There was a special election on the UWS for Assbemblyperson, but I was ineligible to vote because I was not registered for 30 days (don't recall the number) prior to the election. So I looked up the Virginia Republican Primary he claims he voted in and it was
Tuesday June 13, four days after his last day in Congress serving the people of Texas. He left on Friday June 9th.
I can't seem to find the law that stipulates how many days before an election one must be registered to vote in Virginia but it seems like 14 days is the minimum for a special election and 18 days for the general election in Novermber, source Virginia State BOE.
So if Tom DeLay can not stay on the ballot in Texas because he is a resident of Virginia, how could he be a member of Congress from Texas on June 9th if he had to have changed his residency at least 10 days prior to that? It seems he either broke a law requiring members of Congress to live in their respective states or there is some voter fraud.
I am not a Virginian, so any help with all of this state law is appreciated.
UPDATE: added Galveston Daily News link, and here is the DCCC Stakeholder article