Residence as a qualification for voting shall be governed by the following standards:

Terms Used In Wisconsin Statutes 6.10

  • Acquire: when used in connection with a grant of power to any person, includes the acquisition by purchase, grant, gift or bequest. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Dependent: A person dependent for support upon another.
  • Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
  • Following: when used by way of reference to any statute section, means the section next following that in which the reference is made. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Month: means a calendar month unless otherwise expressed. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Municipality: includes cities and villages; it may be construed to include towns. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Person: includes all partnerships, associations and bodies politic or corporate. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Qualified: when applied to any person elected or appointed to office, means that such person has done those things which the person was by law required to do before entering upon the duties of the person's office. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Settlement: Parties to a lawsuit resolve their difference without having a trial. Settlements often involve the payment of compensation by one party in satisfaction of the other party's claims.
  • State: when applied to states of the United States, includes the District of Columbia, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the several territories organized by Congress. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Town: may be construed to include cities, villages, wards or districts. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • United States: includes the District of Columbia, the states, the commonwealth of Puerto Rico and the territories organized by congress. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Village: means incorporated village. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Week: means 7 consecutive days. See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
  • Year: means a calendar year, unless otherwise expressed; "year" alone means "year of our Lord". See Wisconsin Statutes 990.01
   (1)   The residence of a person is the place where the person’s habitation is fixed, without any present intent to move, and to which, when absent, the person intends to return.
   (2)   When a married person’s family resides at one place and that person’s business is conducted at another place, the former place establishes the residence. If the family place is temporary or for transient purposes, it is not the residence.
   (3)   When an elector moves his or her residence from one ward or municipality to another ward or municipality within the state at least 28 days before the election, the elector may vote in and be considered a resident of the new ward or municipality where residing upon registering at the proper polling place or other registration location in the new ward or municipality under s. 6.55 (2) or 6.86 (3) (a) 2. If the elector moves his or her residence later than 28 days before an election, the elector shall vote in the elector’s former ward or municipality if otherwise qualified to vote there.
   (4)   The residence of an unmarried person sleeping in one ward and boarding in another is the place where the person sleeps. The residence of an unmarried person in a transient vocation, a teacher or a student who boards at different places for part of the week, month, or year, if one of the places is the residence of the person’s parents, is the place of the parents’ residence unless through registration or similar act the person elects to establish a residence elsewhere. If the person has no parents and if the person has not registered elsewhere, the person’s residence shall be at the place that the person considered his or her residence in preference to any other for at least 28 consecutive days before an election. If this place is within the municipality, the person is entitled to all the privileges and subject to all the duties of other citizens having their residence there, including voting.
   (5)   A person shall not lose residence when the person leaves home and goes into another state or county, town, village or ward of this state for temporary purposes with an intent to return.
   (6)   As prescribed by article III of the constitution, no person loses residence in this state while absent from this state on business for the United States or this state; and no member of the armed forces of the United States gains a residence in this state because of being stationed within this state.
   (7)   A guest at a national or a state soldiers’ home in this state, a guest at a home for the aged supported by benevolence, or a patient of any county home or other charitable institution, resides in the municipality where the home is located and within the ward where the guest or patient sleeps, unless before becoming a guest or patient at the home the guest or patient elects to maintain his or her prior residence as his or her voting residence.
   (7m)   
      (a)    The residence of a person who is detained, or committed and institutionalized, under s. 51.20, 971.14, or 971.17 or ch. 980 shall be determined by applying the standards under sub. (1) to whichever of the following dates is applicable to the circumstances of the person:
         1.    For a person detained or committed under s. 51.20, the date that the person was detained under s. 51.20 (2) or, if the person was not detained under s. 51.20 (2), the date that the person was committed under s. 51.20 (13).
         2.    For a person committed under s. 971.14 or 971.17, the date of the offense or alleged offense that resulted in the person’s commitment.
         3.    For a person detained or committed under ch. 980, the date that the person committed the sexually violent offense that resulted in the sentence, placement, or commitment that was in effect when the state filed a petition under s. 980.02 against the person.
      (b)    That the person’s habitation was fixed at the place established under par. (a) before he or she was detained or committed shall be considered prima facie evidence that the person intends to return to that place. The prima facie evidence of intent to return to the place determined under par. (a) may be rebutted by presenting information that indicates that the person is not likely to return to that place if the person’s detention or commitment is terminated.
   (8)   No person gains a residence in any ward or election district of this state while there for temporary purposes only.
   (9)   No person loses the right to vote at the person’s place of residence while receiving public assistance or unemployment insurance even if the legal settlement for assistance is elsewhere.
   (10)   If a person moves to another state with an intent to make a permanent residence there, or, if while there the person exercises the right to vote as a citizen of that state by voting, the person loses Wisconsin residence.
   (11)   Neither an intent to acquire a new residence without removal, nor a removal without intent, shall affect residence.
   (12)   Student status shall not be a consideration in determining residence for the purpose of establishing voter eligibility.
   (13)   A military elector under s. 6.22 (1) (b) who is the spouse or dependent of another military elector may elect to take as his or her residence either the individual’s most recent residence in this state or the residence of the individual’s spouse or the individual providing his or her support.