[KellyCriterion]

...and sorry: Thats absolutely OK. I do not want strangers stopping by for 3 - 4 years to be able to influence the politics of my country? Thats totaly understandable?

I would never to ask to vote at a remote place where I do not live permanently, yet where I even not a citizen?

[epistasis]

Somebody who spends 3-4 years in a place has an immense interest in how it's governed. Their view is 100% as valid as yours, and they should have equal voice, if we are going to judge people based on how long they live somewhere.

I live in a college town. Why shouldn't student voices be represented, when they are a huge chunk of our community?

Maybe I'm too US focused, and have been accused of that a lot recently, but your views are fundamentally at odds with basic democracy as I see it as a US citizen.

[mjr00]

There's a massive difference between "will be in a place for 3-4 years maximum, then leaving" vs "has been in a place for 3-4 years but is planning on staying permanently." In the former case their interests are going to be short-term and might not align with long-term residences. Per your example, university students would vote against allocating funds toward schools or playgrounds, because they know they're not going to be raising a family there. Or more globally, you have the population of "digital nomads" who are working in Vietnam/Thailand for a few years before they come back to the US.

It's pretty debatable if these temporary residents should have the same voting rights as permanent residents, since their interests are going to be at odds with long-term residents. I would not be happy if schools got defunded because university students who are only going to be there for a few years wanted to lower alcohol taxes.

Permanent residency/citizenship being a prerequisite for voting is used as a (very imperfect) screening for this.

[epistasis]

A city isn't just for the long-term residents. It must serve short term residents too. Those interests must be represented.

In the US, people get to vote where they live. We used to require silly things like owning land or being male or being white, but that was a really bad idea.

It is not debatable at all if short term residents should had the same voting rights as long term residents. It is very settled constitutional law in the US, and a completely radical idea to suggest changing a principle that has been fundamental for the period of time when the US has been a strong country.

> Per your example, university students would vote against allocating funds toward schools or playgrounds, because they know they're not going to be raising a family there

I think you have very bad intuitions here. In my college town, long term residents get upset that college students vote in favor of school funding, because the long term residents have kids that have already graduated and they don't want to pay for it anymore.

Shorter term residents have significant disadvantages in local politics, as local politics is largely a function of long term relationships and getting the word out on obscure elections where there's almost zero coverage of candidates, and for positions where few know what they do. Depriving short term residents of even using a vote is a huge perversion to the idea of democracy in the US.

[mjr00]

> It is not debatable at all if short term residents should had the same voting rights as long term residents. It is very settled constitutional law in the US, and a completely radical idea to suggest changing a principle that has been fundamental for the period of time when the US has been a strong country.

Sorry what? Only US Citizens are legally allowed to vote in federal and state elections. This explicitly excludes a vast swarth of short-term residents who are there on school visas, work visas, or permanent residents who haven't gotten citizenship yet.

[epistasis]

OMG, I am so sorry, I misread "country" as "county" and have been talking past you this entire time! Apologies!

[KellyCriterion]

Because people do not vote "for local interests" but for "the interests they are carrying with them according to their believes", which are usually not on par with the interestes of the long-term-resident local community.

[epistasis]

So what? Why does that matter on being able to vote? Shouldn't people bring their values to voting, isn't that the entire point?

Should we deny long term residents the right to vote becuase they aren't voting in the interests of short term residents? I don't understand the principle here, unless you think that short term residents are not residents, or full people, or something.

[systemtest]

That is OK but OP should not be complaining about people not being engaged with local politics if you are excluding a large part of the people living in the city from voting.

[leoedin]

Are a large part of the people living in a city the kind of semi-transitory-but-also-there-for-years people you describe?

I'd wager that's a small proportion of almost every city. Most cities will have tourists who are visiting for a few days or weeks, and long term residents who have a permanent address there. The percentage of people living full time in hotels or airbnbs must be tiny. Perhaps in high cost of living cities there's more "hidden homeless" living on couches, but even then it's not going to be "a large part" of a city.

[systemtest]

I don't have sources but for cities like Amsterdam I wouldn't be surprised if 5% of the population isn't registered with the municipality for various reasons. But have been living there for years. Plenty of people I know would sublet empty rooms of their social housing apartment, which is highly illegal but for some people the only way to find a place to stay. But you obviously can't register because then the person subletting would be kicked out.

[milkytron]

Among those that are registered to vote locally, most don't. Regardless of whether or not people should or shouldn't be able to vote, many of those currently with the ability to do not.

[triceratops]

> I do not want strangers stopping by for 3 - 4 years to be able to influence the politics of my country?

City, not country.

[KellyCriterion]

good catch

[mattkrause]

What's the minimum residency you'd accept, because 3-4 years seems quite long to me.

[KellyCriterion]

Gettig citizenownership and giving away your former passport.

[KellyCriterion]

nice to see how the voting for this comment fluctuaded massivly during the last hours:

for some reason, people on HN have a specific opinion when it comes to politics and voting and what are acceptable implementations ;-)