US/DC Voter Registration Question [nevermind, taxation without representation it is]

JustPlainPavek

So I currently live in Washington DC and would love to be able to have a vote that actually counts. I was last registered to vote in Massachusetts, where I went to school, but then lived outside the country for two years and was bad about voting absentee (which I am not proud of); I have no idea if my registration is still on file in Mass, but I definitely no longer live there. I grew up in Indiana, where my parents still live; but I am no longer a dependent of them, have never previously registered to vote there, my state drivers' license has expired, and I don't really plan on moving back any time soon.

All that said, my vote appears to have a better chance (however remote) of making an impact in IN than it does in DC, so I'm wondering if it's at all possible for me to register there anyways, using my parents' house as my "permanent address", and try and vote absentee? If so, would doing so make me liable for Indiana state taxes in any way, even if I'm not earning any income there? What are the requirements for / legal implications of establishing a state residence I don't really expect to use (I like DC and will probably be living here for a while to come)?

Or should I just suck it up and embrace the taxation without representation? If nothing else I'll take that, I guess, since I've started canvassing voters for the Obama campaign and would like to not feel like a huge hypocrite on the issue.

Thanks for any advice you can offer.

RUNN1NGMAN

You can't just shop around for a place to vote. Every state has different requirements for voter registration, but they all require you to actually be a resident or to have lived there as your last US residence if you are an ex-pat. You need to look at the specific voter registration rules for each state. I can tell you one thing though, if you are not a dependent of your parents, using their address to register when you don't actually live there would be fraud.

Here's the Indiana Voter Registration Application. Note the big bolded text right above where you sign.

"I will have lived in my precinct for at least 30 days before the next election.
All the above information and all other statements on this form are true.
I understand that if I sign this statement knowing that it is not true I am committing perjury and can be fined up to $10,000, jailed for up to three years or both."

JustPlainPavek

Ugh. I sort of figured this would be the case, but just wanted to get some confirmation. Thanks. I saw the at least 30 days part elsewhere but wasn't sure how that would be applied with, say, an absentee ballot, which I thought you could still cast while away for a stretch at college, for example. I mean, I have lived in my parent's precinct for 30 days before the next election, but not the 30 immediately prior. Perhaps I should've registered back in the fall when I was living at home for a few months, before moving out here, and tried to vote absentee based on that previous registration. Too late now.

I definitely don't want to be doing any voter fraud, so I guess I've got to scratch the idea. Stupid quasi-federal territories.

RUNN1NGMAN

Well, if you're a full time student things get a little more complex. You should probably call someone and find out for sure. A lot of voter registration stuff follows a sort of "good faith" kind of thing, since we as Americans tend to frown on strict requirements for voter registration (for example, a homeless guy can roll up to city hall and register, with nothing by his word that he actually lives in the precinct. They even provide a little diagram to draw your address if you live under an overpass or something). If you consider yourself a resident of DC, though (as in, there isn't a different place you consider "home" where you go when you're not in school) it's probably not legal to register anywhere else.