The law is clear: Eventually, Tommy Tuberville will have to prove where he lives

There are certain things upon which we should all be able to agree. 

The law is one of those. The fact that a governor of Alabama should actually live in the state is another. 

Forget political affiliations, personal beliefs and friendships. Those two things should be non-negotiable. Because without one of those – the law – we have chaos. And the other is so important that we made it law, clearly defined it and have upheld it for decades. 

Those things should cut through the bickering and arguing and nonsense. Every time. 

It doesn’t matter that Tommy Tuberville is a Republican and one of the most vocal maga politicians in the country. It truly doesn’t. Yes, I disagree with almost everything he says and generally think his political career has been bad for Alabama, bad for America and even bad for the people who are his most vocal supporters. 

But that’s just politics. This other – this residency issue – is something more. And I think you all know it. 

APR has reported extensively, as have other media outlets, on the mountain of evidence, showing that Tuberville doesn’t live in Alabama, but instead resides in his beach home in Santa Rosa, Fla. That evidence includes travel receipts that Tuberville has filed over the years through his Senate office and through his various political action committees. It includes statements made by Tuberville. And it includes the most basic evidence – common sense. 

I mean, come on, that man — a millionaire — isn’t living in a three-bed, two-bath, 1,500-square-foot house in the middle of a standard subdivision in Auburn. And really, it’s sort of insulting that he would think we’d buy that. 

But this thing doesn’t rest on what someone thinks. 

It rests on what Tuberville can prove. 

Prior to a couple of years ago, I had no idea how residency challenges were handled in Alabama. And then, David Cole came along. 

If you’ve forgotten, Cole ran for and won the House District 10 seat in Madison. The problem was his primary residence appeared to be a home in District 4. Cole, however, had used a different address – for a home owned by a family friend, where he was allegedly renting space – as his primary residence when qualifying for the ballot and for voting in two different elections. 

Libertarian candidate Elijah Boyd challenged Cole’s residency. What transpired was a weird court-managed challenge that featured months of filings and appeals and court rulings, ultimately ending in a deposition in which Boyd’s attorney was allowed to file several questions that were asked by a third-party commissioner. 

Those questions covered, well, everything. But mainly, they were about all the things that Alabama courts have determined define residency: where a person lays his head, where the majority of his belongings are, where his clothes are, did he pay bills there, hold family functions there, and on and on and on. In addition, the plaintiffs were allowed to subpoena a number of documents, such as tax returns, other legal documents and various bills. 

All of it was used to paint a very clear picture of one thing: Cole didn’t live where he claimed. 

That case never played all the way out. Instead, the Alabama AG’s office stepped in and prosecuted Cole for voter fraud. Using his answers from the deposition, it was pretty clear that Cole had lied about his address when casting ballots in those two elections, which left him voting out of district and committing felony fraud. He was convicted, went to jail and resigned his House seat.

Now, I’m not telling you that Tuberville is going to be convicted of voter fraud – although, given that he’s apparently used that Auburn address to vote absentee, that possibility has to be considered – but what I am telling you is that the law is pretty detailed and pretty clear on how residency challenges are handled, and that process could be a huge, huge issue for Tuberville. And for Republicans, should they choose to simply rubber stamp Tuberville’s placement on the GOP ballot. 

Because that ballot challenge, should it come, will be managed in the Montgomery County Circuit Court, where there are no “friendly” GOP judges. Instead, there’s a courthouse full of judges who don’t mind at all following the laws as written and holding everyone, including a guy who’s cruising towards the governor’s mansion (or already sitting in it), accountable to that law. 

And with such recent precedent sitting right in front of them – Cole’s case traveled up and back to the Alabama Supreme Court at least three times – it’ll be mighty tough to avoid the same process. 

Which means it will no longer matter where Tuberville says he lives. It will no longer matter where I, or others, think he lives. 

All that will matter is what Tuberville can prove.