By Dave Dahl
SPRINGFIELD – With the state’s primary election a little more than two months away, and this being a presidential election year, Wednesday was as good a time as any, it would seem, for an Illinois House committee to listen to testimony about voter access.
Most of the hearing addressed the state’s efforts to expand vote-by-mail. Lawmakers heard from officials in Utah and Washington State, both of which employ universal vote-by-mail.
“When we protect and enhance voter access,” said State Rep. Maurice West (D-Rockford), the chair of the House Ethics and Elections Committee, “we strengthen the very foundation of our democracy. In recent times, we have witnessed challenges to voter access, from restrictive legislation advanced in other states to attempts to undermine the integrity of our electoral system. We must work collaboratively to fortify the walls of protecting our democracy.”
“Although we are not considered the most voter-friendly state,” said Champaign County clerk Aarom Ammons,”things like allowing people with felony convictions to vote, same day registration, mandatory college campus locations for student voting, forty days of early voting, and, recently, the allowance of drop boxes, permanent vote by mail lists and vote centers will put Illinois in the top tier of states that provide the best voter access.”
A representative of the Illinois Council of the Blind, Ray Campbell, said people misunderstand what the disabled want. “A way to put our ballots into a PDF file and to return them electronically,” as opposed to something “similar to ordering something off Amazon.”
And Charles Holiday, Jr., of the Chicago Board of Elections, said there’s a need to promote the available resources: “Many voters were not aware they could request a ballot in six other languages.”
The Illinois primary is March 19.
Dave Dahl can be reached at [email protected].
