State Office Residency Requirement (S 208)

We opposed legislation that would impose a two-year residency requirement to qualify as a candidate for governor, lieutenant governor, secretary of state, attorney general, or general treasurer. We believe it should be up to the voters themselves to size up candidates in any particular election and determine their qualifications as a whole. A two-year residency requirement is, we argued, an arbitrary qualification standard that inappropriately overrides the potential will of the voters. This bill died in committee.