Citizens Denied the Vote: Expand Registration Grace Period To Election Day

The deadline to register to vote in Illinois is 28 days before the election. After that day (Oct. 7) the state extends a grace period of an extra 14 days where citizens can register to vote, but they have to do so in the office of the election administrator (no driver's license facilities or street-corner registrations from outside organizations are permitted after the regular deadline). And to make it easier on the election administrators, grace period registrants must vote when they register, so the administrators need not get their information, including a digital signature, to the polling place in that 14 day window.

This year, 20,462 Illinois citizens were not excluded from voting by the regular deadline to register, according to the State Journal-Register, as those 20,462 citizens registered and voted during the grace period. That's a success for democracy as without the grace period, those 20,000 citizens would be excluded from their election.

State Senator James Meeks (D-Chicago) and then-Representative Robin Kelly (now Chief of Staff to Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias) sponsored the bill to implement grace period registration in their respective chambers. The bill, SB 2133, passed on essentially a party-line vote (with the exception of then-Republican Representative Paul Froehlich (Schaumburg) who voted for it -- an early sign of his admirable independence and consistent work to improve democracy and government for all citizens).

I was the advocate and lobbyist for the grace period registration bill and I hope that in 2009 the General Assembly will extend registration opportunities to more citizens who wish to vote but find out they can't because of a government deadline to provide their residence information.

Today, thousands of citizens (particularly the young and the mobile) are learning to their dismay that they are not registered at their current address or at all and are thus unable to vote. We should implement same-day voter registration, if not at the polling place as in Wisconsin, Minnesota, New Hampshire, Maine and a few other states, then at least at the office of the election authority where same-day registrants can show up, show ID, register and vote. This is how Montana offers same-day registration (essentially an extension through election-day of Illinois' grace period registration that Montana calls "late registration" -- doesn't "grace period" sound more inclusive than "late registration"?).

Let's extend our grace period through election day in 2010 and stop excluding citizens from voting.

Comments

[billofgoods]

come on, the liberals have been screaming foul for 8 years ... If there is some one out there who has not registered and is claiming that the 28 days infringed on their ability , then their capabilities of responsibility are nil....there have been approximately 320 = days this year that one could register ...

[GregJL]

I have an idea...let's make voter registration national and non-elective. You turn 18, you register to vote, or you pay a fine. Just like registering with Selective Service. Voting needs to be moved from "right" to "responsibility".

[PatrickforO]

Sorry, dreammasher. We don't like rules that purposely disenfranchise poor and elderly voters. What if the rule was that you had to show your bus pass to register? Sorry, but I'm not buying this bunk, nor are millions of others. If Obama loses and we can prove the election was rigged, we're going to fight, and fight, and fight and fight until we have a fair election, which is our right as a nation. Never again!

[dreamsmasher]

Why do the Democrats not like rules?
Why is it that the Republicans can get to the registration stations on time but the Democrat voters cannot?
If people are that damn lazy that they cannot break away long enough to register to vote BEFORE the given deadline THEN THEY DON'T DESERVE TO VOTE, think about it these people had the last two years at a minimum to register to vote, in fact they have had from the day they came of legal age so why should they receive a grace period?

[Dan Johnson-Weinberger - Huffpost Blogger]

Lots of Republicans move in the few months before the election, particularly younger Republicans, and don't tell the election authority of their new address. They are also blocked from voting. And the idea that a citizen and a taxpayer has to jump through a hoop in order to help choose who will run their government is exceptionally problematic.

These ever-evolving rules need to be improved again.

[dreamsmasher]

Yes that is why there is a "provisional ballott" which is used to allow these exact individuals the benefit of casting their ballott therefore not disenfranchising anyone, after the election these provisional ballotts are reviewed for the validity of the person casting the ballott.
So your idea that these taxpayers have to jump through hoops is unfounded, all you have to do is provide a valid ID with proof that you now live within that precinct.
Bottom line is there is no reason whatsoever to extend the deadline and I stick by my original posting!