SB1503 103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB103 30553 BMS 56987 b

103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
SB1503

Introduced 2/7/2023, by Sen. Terri Bryant

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

10 ILCS 5/21-1

from Ch. 46, par. 21-1

Amends the Election Code. Provides that electors of President and Vice President of the United States shall be chosen by congressional district. Provides that 2 electors at large shall cast their ballot for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate that received the highest number of votes in the State.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning elections.

Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, represented in the General Assembly:

Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing Section 21-1 as follows:

(10 ILCS 5/21-1) (from Ch. 46, par. 21-1)

Sec. 21-1. Choosing and election of electors of President and Vice-President of the United States shall be in the following manner:

(a) In each year in which a President and Vice-President of the United States are chosen, each political party or group in this State shall choose by its State Convention or State central committee one elector electors of President and Vice-President of the United States from each congressional district and such State Convention or State central committee of such party or group shall also choose 2 electors at large, if any are to be appointed for this State and such State Convention or State central committee of such party or group shall by its chair and secretary certify the total list of such electors together with electors at large so chosen to the State Board of Elections.

The filing of such certificate with the Board, of such choosing of electors shall be deemed and taken to be the choosing and selection of the electors for the individual congressional districts of this State, if such party or group is successful at the polls in the individual congressional district as herein provided in choosing their candidates for President and Vice-President of the United States.

(b) The names of the candidates of the several political parties or groups for electors of President and Vice-President shall not be printed on the official ballot to be voted in the election to be held on the day in this Act above named. In lieu of the names of the candidates for such electors of President and Vice-President, immediately under the appellation of party name of a party or group in the column of its candidates on the official ballot, to be voted at said election first above named in subsection (1) of Section 2A-1.2 and Section 2A-2, there shall be printed within a bracket the name of the candidate for President and the name of the candidate for Vice-President of such party or group with a square to the left of such bracket. Each voter in this State from the several lists or sets of electors so chosen and selected by the said respective political parties or groups, may choose and elect an elector one of such lists or sets of electors by placing a cross in the square to the left of the bracket aforesaid of one of such parties or groups. Placing a cross within the square before the bracket enclosing the names of President and Vice-President shall not be deemed and taken as a direct vote for such candidates for President and Vice-President, or either of them, but shall only be deemed and taken to be a vote for the elector entire list or set of electors chosen by that political party or group for that congressional district so certified to the State Board of Elections as herein provided. Voting by means of placing a cross in the appropriate place preceding the appellation or title of the particular political party or group, shall not be deemed or taken as a direct vote for the candidates for President and Vice-President, or either of them, but instead to the Presidential vote, as a vote for the elector entire list or set of electors chosen by that political party or group so certified to the State Board of Elections as herein provided.

(c) Such certification by the respective political parties or groups in this State of electors of President and Vice-President shall be made to the State Board of Elections within 2 days after such State convention or meeting of the State central committee in which the electors were chosen.

(d) Should more than one certificate of choice and selection of electors of the same political party or group be filed by contesting conventions or contesting groups, it shall be the duty of the State Board of Elections within 10 days after the adjournment of the last of such conventions to meet and determine which set of nominees for electors of such party or group was chosen and selected by the authorized convention of such party or group. The Board, after notice to the chair and secretaries or managers of the conventions or groups and after a hearing shall determine which elector set of electors was so chosen for each congressional district by the authorized convention and shall so announce and publish the fact, and such decision shall be final and the set of electors so determined upon by the electoral board to be so chosen shall be the list or set of electors to be deemed elected if that party shall be successful at the polls in each congressional district, as herein provided.

(e) Should a vacancy occur in the choice of an elector in a congressional district, such vacancy may be filled by the executive committee of the party or group for such congressional district, to be certified by such committee to the State Board of Elections. Should a vacancy occur in the office of elector at large, such vacancy shall be filled by the State committee of such political party or group, and certified by it to the State Board of Elections.

(f) Each congressional district presidential elector shall cast his or her ballot for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate who received the highest number of votes in his or her congressional district. Each elector at large shall cast his or her ballot for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate who received the highest number of votes in the State.

(Source: P.A. 99-522, eff. 6-30-16; 100-1027, eff. 1-1-19.)