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The Illinois State Board of Elections [yesterday] notified 59 local election authorities that 774 former inmates of the Illinois Department of Corrections may have had their voter registrations erroneously canceled due to a data-matching error involving both agencies.
Matching based on information forwarded to the State Board of Elections incorrectly categorized the individuals as currently incarcerated when in fact they had completed their sentences and been discharged. The State Board of Elections has worked directly with the Illinois Department of Corrections to identify the affected individuals, whose records were among more than 126,000 shared between the two agencies between 2014 and 2019.
Under Illinois law, voting rights are suspended during an inmate’s period of incarceration but are restored upon release, though the individual must re-register to vote. This includes those who are released on parole, on mandatory supervised release and on condition of electronic monitoring.
The Board of Elections has provided each election authority with voter information on the affected individuals so that their registrations can be reviewed for reinstatement by the start of early voting on Feb. 6. It is possible that some of the cancellations are for reasons unrelated to this data error and known only to the local election authority.
The Board of Elections and Department of Corrections are committed to ensuring this does not happen again. Both agencies are currently revising their data sharing agreement and matching parameters to avoid this error in future data exchanges. Upon identifying the potential problem in November 2019, the Board ceased sharing IDOC matches with local election authorities and began the process of identifying individuals who may have been affected by the error. Because Illinois allows for voter registration on Election Day and the casting of provisional ballots for those whose registration status is in question, the affected registrants would have had the opportunity to re-register and/or cast provisional ballots at their polling places if they wished to vote in an election after the error occurred.
Countywide totals are here.
* Sun-Times…
It’s just the latest voter registration-related headache for the state.
Late last month, Republicans and some Democrats called for an investigation into how 545 self-identified non-citizens were mistakenly registered to vote as part of the Illinois’ automatic voter registration program. And last week, the Illinois secretary of state was told to stop allowing 16-year-olds to start the voter registration process.
Despite the series of gaffes, voters shouldn’t be concerned about the integrity of the state’s voter registration system, Dietrich said.
”The earlier issue with [automatic voter registration] has been fixed — we know that we’ve tested it we’re continuing to monitor it,” Dietrich said. “This is something that’s different, this had nothing to do with the voter registration process, it had to do with our mistake that may have led to these jurisdictions cancelling registrations who should not have had their registrations cancelled.”
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 9:27 am
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If inmates are counted in the censuses, they have a residence to vote?
Comment by Rabid Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 9:42 am
The State manages to fumble the ball again. #IncompetentIllinois
Comment by revvedup Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 10:12 am
Since this particular mistake concerns former inmates having their registration taken away, I doubt the usual outrage brigade will be quite as vocal this time.
Comment by Ron Burgundy Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 10:13 am
==- Ron Burgundy - Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 10:13 am:==
Just look at the lack of comments on this post. And I bet you won’t here a peep out of the GOP.
Comment by Precinct Captain Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 11:22 am
hear*
Comment by Precinct Captain Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 11:23 am
Why does the state as a whole tolerate these regular mistakes from the Board of Elections? Seriously, can someone explain why the governor or GA haven’t done something?
Comment by Seriousquestions Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 11:41 am
==And I bet you won’t here a peep out of the GOP.==
RB, don’t take that bet. LOL
Comment by Pot calling kettle Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 12:53 pm
Sewing more doubt into our elections, this is the beginning of the end of democracy/ republic. This all helps with the president declaring the fall election void when he loses and ask his appointed Supreme Court to rule in his favor.
Comment by Publius Tuesday, Feb 4, 20 @ 2:46 pm