Illinois Becomes 10th State To Enact Automatic Voter Registration Law

[DonViejo]

Source: Talking Points Memo



By NICOLE LAFOND Published AUGUST 28, 2017 11:09 AM

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner (R) signed a bipartisan automatic voter registration bill into law Monday, after initially vetoing the bill over concerns that it would increase voter fraud.

The new law makes Illinois the 10th state to pass laws that automatically register residents to vote when they apply for or renew their driver’s licenses and state IDs. Automatic registration will be run through the secretary of state’s office and should be fully implemented by the 2018 election, NBC Chicago reported.

The bill passed unanimously in the state General Assembly in July and is designed to open up voting access to rural voters, military personnel and senior citizens.

Common Cause Illinois, the group that championed the bill, predicted there are more than 2 million Illinois residents who are eligible to vote, but aren’t registered.


Read more: http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/illinois-becomes-10-state-pass-automatic-voter-registration-law

[Not Ruth]

1. What if they never wanted to be registered to vote?

[Dave Starsky]

4. You can decline it.

It saves you the time and inconvenience of having to go through another process, should you choose to do so.

[DetlefK]

5. What reason could there possibly be to not be a registered voter?

Let me guess: "Freedom (TM)"

[Not Ruth]

6. Many people want to do things when they want to do them, not when it is convenient

[DetlefK]

8. That is not an answer.

"Don't feel like." is not a valid reason for picking one choice over the other.

[Not Ruth]

11. Here is Colin's answer

But I believe that some people want to do it when they have done due diligence, chosen a party affiliation, spoken to their spouse, etc. If you look at the percentage of people that vote, you will find a degree of apathy.


Colin Kaepernick defended his decision to not vote in the presidential election, saying he thought it would be "hypocritical" to vote because he is against the "system of oppression" and that he did not want to support the system.

This comes amid a new report from the Sacramento Bee that Kaepernick has never registered to vote, either in California, where he grew up and lives now, or in Nevada, where he attended college.

According to records obtained from the California Secretary of State by the Sacramento Bee, Kaepernick, who turned 18 in 2005, has not registered to vote in California at any time since 2005. Likewise, he was not registered to vote in Nevada from 2006 through 2010, according to the county registrar of voters for Reno, Nevada.

As Alexei Koseff of the Sacramento Bee points out, this means that Kaepernick would not have voted in either the 2008 or the 2012 presidential elections in which President Barack Obama was elected, as well as other state and local elections and initiatives.

On Sunday, Kaepernick defended his decision to not vote when he spoke with the media.

"I think it would be hypocritical of me to vote," Kaepernick said. "I said from the beginning I was against oppression, I was against the system of oppression. I'm not going to show support for that system."

[DetlefK]

12. Sounds like Russel Brand's demand to only vote for perfect politicians.

Russel Brand once was interviewed by some old conservative journalist. Russel Brand voiced his opinion that progressive voters should no longer compromise: They should not vote for a candidate with whom they don't agree 100%. They should stay abstinent from elections until that perfect, flawless fairytale-politician comes along one day.

The old conservative journalist was aghast with this battle-cry for voter-apathy. As was I.

[LanternWaste]

18. Appears Colin is responding to "why didn't you vote?"

Appears Colin is responding to "why didn't you vote?" rather than "why do want to deny automatic voter registration?"

Seems to be two wholly separate questions...

[surrealAmerican]

21. Illinois doesn't register party affiliation ...

... so that is not a factor.
Being registered does not in any way require you to vote either.

[Hassin Bin Sober]

14. "want to do things when they want to do them"

Well then this should make them happy as they don't have to DO anything.

Win win!!

[Wounded Bear]

7. I believe jury duty is often determined by voter registration...

[LiberalFighter]

13. That would not be true.

They also include those getting a drivers license, paying taxes, buying a home.

[frazzled]

17. Well, I hope this means

That I will not be called for jury duty so often in the future. I've been called 3 times in the past 7 or 8 years (and my husband as many times), and it is sometimes very far away from my residence. (Cook County, Illinois, where I live, is spread out over a very large geographic area; it once took my husband an hour and a half to drive to the court to which he was assigned.) Although I've gone each time, and spent the better part of a day, I've never been selected for an actual jury--thank goodness! Once it was for a first-degree murder trial, and I was praying that they wouldn't want me, because I would be hard-put morally to make that kind of decision. I would have done it, though. Fortunately, they filled the jury before my panel was called up for voir dire.

At any rate, my hope is that this expanded voter registration will mean that new people will be asked to serve. Of course, if they also look at how often you actually vote (to see your civic engagement and reliability), I'm still high up on the list, I guess. I've never missed a local, state, or federal election in my life. At least they probably know I'll show up at the courthouse.

[mantis49]

24. I've been a registered voter in Illinois since 1972,

only received one jury summons. I was excused from that before being interviewed.

[ehrnst]

16. If you are not eligible to vote - here on a temporary visa, and don't want to be arrested for

voter fraud, which is a much bigger danger now than it used to be.

[LanternWaste]

19. Has this been an issue, or even concern in other states with automatic voter registration?

Has this been an issue, or even a concern in other states with automatic voter registration?

[ehrnst]

20. Yes. It has.

http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/story/news/2017/02/03/vt-pauses-automatic-voter-registration-after-problems/97454818/

[csziggy]

23. Do the states using automatic voter registration also have Real ID?

The REAL ID Act of 2005, Pub.L. 109–13, 119 Stat. 302, enacted May 11, 2005, is an Act of Congress that modifies U.S. federal law pertaining to security, authentication, and issuance procedures standards for the state driver's licenses and identity documents, as well as various immigration issues pertaining to terrorism.

The law sets forth requirements for state driver's licenses and ID cards to be accepted by the federal government for "official purposes", as defined by the Secretary of the United States Department of Homeland Security. The Secretary of Homeland Security has currently defined "official purposes" as boarding commercially operated airline flights and entering federal buildings and nuclear power plants, although the law gives the Secretary the unlimited authority to require a "federal identification" for any other purposes.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/REAL_ID_Act

If so, citizenship will already be verified - though other factors that some states use to disenfranchise voters such as felony convictions will not.

[lunasun]

2. Yay us!

[Cary]

3. Rauner

Pfeh.

Maybe he got a dose of reality?

[iluvtennis]

9. Happy ppl will be registered to vote by default. If they don't want to use it, so be it...

...but should they want to vote, they'll already be on the rolls. This is Win-Win to me.

[IronLionZion]

10. Blue states want people to vote, red states don't

I hope they verify that it works correctly. I definitely registered to vote in DC when I moved here and got my license but when I showed up to vote in the Dem primary, my registration wasn't in their records. I had registered 1.5 years before the election. DC has same day registration so I still got to vote.

[librechik]

15. we need more of this please n/t

[Hortensis]

22. Excellent. Good for Illinois.

[mantis49]

25. Knowing Rauner, I'm sure he would like to have vetoed it.

Kinda hard to not accept a bill voted on unanimously. Good for our Reps and Senators!