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Illinois’ new election law is an “electoral dichotomy” with what’s going on in GOP states

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Illinois

* John O’Connor at the AP…

For Illinois, the changes to voting law that legislators made in the final hours of their legislative session a few weeks ago seemed innocuous. In some cases — voting by mail, allowing jail inmates awaiting trial to cast ballots — are affirmation or expansion of practices already put to the test.

But they present an electoral dichotomy with what’s happening in other states, where fury over the persistent false claims that last fall’s presidential election was stolen from the Republican incumbent, Donald Trump, have encouraged local legislators in places such as Georgia, Texas and Arizona toward sharp restrictions on some of the whens and hows of balloting.

The trend in Illinois also is vastly different to what is going on in Congress, where Republicans in the U.S. Senate on Tuesday blocked progress of an expansive voting and elections bill.

In Illinois, legislation breezed through a General Assembly controlled by Democratic supermajorities, on strictly partisan votes, and Gov. JB Pritzker signed it into law June 17. […]

“The General Assembly drew the lesson that we could do this in the future, in a way that would really bring people in to participate,” said Ed Yohnka, spokesman for the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois. “It stands in sharp contrast to Texas or Florida, where those Republican governors have actually said, ’Hey, we ran a free, fair and open election — and oh, by the way, what we’re going to do is make it harder to do that the next time.”

* This isn’t comprehensive, but here are some dot points from the administration on the new law…

Topline

SB 825 expands voting protections and access to the ballot box for Illinoisans by increasing access to curbside voting, establishing permanent vote by mail registries, establishing a central polling location in counties across the state, strengthening cybersecurity standards for election authorities in Illinois, and providing viable voting opportunities for justice-impacted individuals.

Other:

SB 825 establishes June 28, 2022 as the new 2022 general primary election date.

SB 825 grants sheriffs outside of Cook County the ability to establish polling locations at local county jails, a practice already in place in Cook County. Individuals awaiting trial and sentencing who are residents of the community surrounding the county jail will now be permitted to vote at the jail’s polling place.

SB 825 builds on the administration’s previous actions to protect and expand voting rights in Illinois which include extended hours at permanent polling places, expanding the state’s vote by mail program, and making election day a state holiday.

posted by Rich Miller
Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 2:41 pm

Comments

Illinois forgot to put in voter ID which is common sense

Comment by Common sense controls Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 2:55 pm
Nope - nobody forgot. IL is trying to enfranchise people not the opposite.

Comment by Advocate Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 2:59 pm
== voter ID which is common sense ==

Showed ID when I registered, that’s why my name and signature are in the book

Comment by SWIL_Voter Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:01 pm
===Showed ID when I registered===

Exactly. The issue is way overblown.

Comment by Rich Miller Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:02 pm
Illinois already has voter ID requirements: every voter, under penalty of federal law, signs a legal affidavit that affirms their identity, the signature of which is checked against voter registration records.

If you want to require *photo* ID to vote, we need to make the process of getting a state ID faster, easier, and cheaper first.

Comment by Sterling Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:02 pm
=== Illinois forgot to put in voter ID which is common sense===

That’s an opinion, not common sense.

Any time the idea a barrier needs to be put up to reasonably be able to vote, that’s and idea to not only disenfranchise voting, it’s an idea to suppress voting.

Do we need to revisit how low actual voter fraud is?

A political party in the United States feels, as a strategy, they can not win elections the more people come out to vote.

It’s not about security, integrity of the ballot, “fraud”… it’s trying at any level of regulation to ensure fewer voters vote, and especially fewer voters who may be poor, persons of color, and/or younger voters.

If you can’t see that, you’re arguably part of the problem.

Good on Illinois.

Run em all, vote em all, let’s see who wins at the ballot box.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:03 pm
You also show an ID when you cast an early vote in person by Illinois law.

The ID as Jim Crow argument has always baffled me. ID in Illinois can be an electric bill to you at that address.

Comment by Louis G Atsaves Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:12 pm
=== ID in Illinois can be an electric bill===

Might not be in the voter’s name. So that could be a barrier… in other states.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:14 pm
=== Good on Illinois ===

Yes. Illinois is facilitating democracy by making it easier to vote. Red states are doing everything possible to limit voting.

On ID laws, they were initiated as an early voter suppression measure. As we’re seeing now, the justification was a phony assertion of massive illegal voting.

Comment by Norseman Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:15 pm
== You also show an ID when you cast an early vote in person by Illinois law. ==

Never once have I done this.

== The ID as Jim Crow argument has always baffled me. ==

The lawmakers passing these laws are doing so not in response to any identifiable problem. They’re passing them because they know black people are more likely to lack ID. Heritage foundation has been bragging about the fact they’re passing these laws to achieve specific electoral outcomes.

Comment by SWIL_Voter Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:28 pm
The GOP are creating the tools which true fascists will use to dismantle our democracy. They were unable to prevent Donald Trump from using their rules to win the nomination in spite of not having a majority of the votes in the primary and they were unable to actually hold a serious primary in many of their states — and this happened because of a rules intended to protect the establishment candidate or sitting president from a primary challenge.

Changing election laws to protect their majorities by depriving the rights of others to vote will be the tool that is used to end democratic representation and usher in a fascist regime.

Comment by Candy Dogood Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:32 pm
== Heritage foundation has been bragging about the fact they’re passing these laws to achieve specific electoral outcomes. ==

This is the thing that always boggles my mind. The proponents pushing these things actively and openly state exactly what their reasoning. They are barely hiding their intentions at all, but some not-insignificant portion of the American population keeps trying to find other innocuous explanations, rather than just listening to the words coming out of their mouths.

Comment by Homebody Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:37 pm
=== == You also show an ID when you cast an early vote in person by Illinois law. ==

Never once have I done this.===

I have not either. While “warned” it may be “possible”, not one time have I had to show as a condition to vote.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:40 pm
Cheaters invariably claim they were cheated…when they simply lost.

Comment by Dotnonymous Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:43 pm
Example #24 of how Illinois is going to compete with other states to remain viable and vibrant in the future. We care about Democracy.

Comment by Jibba Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:44 pm
=== == You also show an ID when you cast an early vote in person by Illinois law. == Initially a photo ID was required for Early Voting but was drop after couple of elections.

Comment by Tom Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:47 pm
==Showed ID when I registered==
Two forms of ID, actually.
Verification of identity when voting is done through signature match.

Comment by Teacher Lady Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 3:47 pm
Voter ID : Yes, I gave them my name. it matched what they had in the voter file. Then I signed my name and my signature matched what they had.

I was then given a ballot.

Amazing how that works, isn’t it?

Comment by low level Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 4:34 pm
=== AP should write about that story.===

Must lack literacy skills, it’s in the news quite often.

Dunno what one has to do with the other…

To the post, what’s been mentally challenging for me to the honesty of the Trumpkins is that this need to disenfranchise voters, voters that aren’t angry, white, old, and rural, because Trumpkins can’t see an America that doesn’t “look like them” as acceptable.

Heck, even the most fervent Trumpkins say as much, loudly, proudly, and publicly.

Comment by Oswego Willy Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 4:37 pm
===The ID as Jim Crow argument has always baffled me.===

In Florida, the voter ID requirement was state ID, saying, “Well, everyone has a drivers’ license, or it’s easy to get!” Well, everyone doesn’t. And to get a drivers’ license (or state ID), you need a birth certificate. And do you know who in Florida don’t have birth certificates? Older Black citizens who were born in segregated hospitals during the Jim Crow era, when the state of Florida routinely failed to issue birth certificates to Black newborns, failed to offer support for Black hospitals to do so, and required Black parents to jump through major hoops to get their kids one — while the white hospitals issued them as a matter of course.

When Florida began requiring voter ID, suddenly senior citizens who’d been voting since the 1960s found they were not allowed to vote. “Just get a drivers’ license!” they said. So they’d try to go do that — and discover they needed a birth certificate. Having a birth certificate issued later in life in Florida is a process that costs around $600 and takes months or even years. During all of which time you can’t vote. And God help you if you have no family Bible, or if the hospital where you were born burned down, or if you aren’t sure of the name of it. You may just never get to vote (or drive) again.

In fact, my husband is trying to get his birth certificate from Florida right now — from the 80s, in the database, we can see it only — and it’s been EIGHT MONTHS. They don’t answer the phones, they don’t respond to e-mail inquiries, and apparently don’t, you know, send people birth certificates. Although they did cash our check. (He needs a birth certificate to get his RealID, and even for a white dude born in the 1980s, Florida apparently makes this FLATLY IMPOSSIBLE.)

Comment by Suburban Mom Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 4:43 pm
Oh great now we’re doing a CRT thanks suburban mom /s

Comment by SWIL_Voter Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 4:53 pm
=The ID as Jim Crow argument has always baffled me.=

The argument that an ID is necessary to prevent voter fraud is far more baffling particularly since there’s little if any evidence to support it. Why not just be honest? The goal is to limit participation. The “problem” isn’t fraud it’s people voting for candidates that aren’t Republican. So you can drop the facade as other Republicans have. And as your leader said in this last round, if more people vote we lose. And isn’t that what it’s really about?

Comment by Pundent Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 5:06 pm
== You also show an ID when you cast an early vote in person by Illinois law. ==

Only if you are also registering or changing your registration (address change or name change).

Comment by yinn Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 5:33 pm
When I first registered to vote it was by mail. Over 20 years ago it seemed you couldn’t go hardly anywhere and not find a form that you can mail into the county. And I’ve never had to show either an ID or even my voter registration card to election judges when I voted.

Comment by Levois J Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 8:51 pm
Funny (not really) how these states that are now passing laws requiring an ID to vote don’t require the same things for a guns. I guess they are also selective about what “liberties” and “rights” to enforce.

I am proud of Illinois and our expansion of Democracy. I also am proud that we didn’t have to give these laws false patriotic titles, the very thing that all totalitarian regimes always hide behind.

Did you hear that Mary Miller?

Comment by JS Mill Wednesday, Jun 23, 21 @ 9:37 pm
I am in favor of needing an id to vote.

Comment by Blue Dog Thursday, Jun 24, 21 @ 5:37 am
=I am in favor of needing an id to vote.=

Because providing an ID at the time of registration and having your signature confirmed isn’t good enough or you just want enough of the “right” people voting?

Comment by Pundent Thursday, Jun 24, 21 @ 8:39 am