GOP Lawmakers call for hearing on automatic voter registration program
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (WICS/WRSP) — Several Republican lawmakers in Illinois are asking for an immediate hearing on the state's automated voter registration (AVR) program.
The five House GOP members say they're calling for the hearing based on a recent letter that came to light from the Office of Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White.
The GOP lawmakers say that in the letter to the Illinois State Board of Elections was voter registration information of 574 self-identified non-citizens.
They claim that registration was in-turn forwarded to local election authorities for the finalization of the voter registration process.
In a letter to House Speaker Michael Madigan, the Republicans stated:
“This is an absurd lack of compliance with state law, surfacing less than three weeks from the opening of early voting for our state’s 2020 general primary election. Given this, we are requesting an immediate hearing of the House Executive Committee to investigate this situation and to hear testimony directly from Secretary of State Jesse White, officials of the State Board of Elections, representatives from our local election authorities, and others concerned with this situation. The oversight function of the Legislative Branch regarding this law must be used to hold the Executive Branch accountable for ensuring compliance with state law and to determine if additional legislation is needed to tighten our voter registration laws.”
“We unequivocally support full access to voter registration,” said Butler. “That is why we voted for the AVR program in 2017. However, the potential registration of non-citizens has been a concern since discussions of instituting an AVR program in our state began. This revelation underscores that these concerns are well-founded. There must be no question of the integrity of our elections process, but this situation certainly calls into question how the AVR program has been implemented in Illinois.”
Along with Rep. Tim Butler, R-Springfield, the Republican members of the Executive Committee who signed the letter include Joe Sosnowski (R-Rockford), Ryan Spain (R-Peoria), Grant Wehrli (R-Naperville) and Keith Wheeler (R-Oswego).
