093_HB1631

 
                                     LRB093 05284 JAM 05374 b

 1        AN ACT concerning elections.

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

 4        Section  5.  The  Election  Code  is  amended  by  adding
 5    Section 1A-20 as follows:

 6        (10 ILCS 5/1A-20 new)
 7        Sec. 1A-20.  Provisional ballots.
 8        (a)  Notwithstanding any other provision of this Code  to
 9    the  contrary,  the  State Board of Elections shall adopt and
10    election  authorities  shall  implement  procedures  for  the
11    casting and counting of provisional ballots at  any  election
12    in accordance with this Section.
13        (b)  A  person  claiming to be entitled to vote but whose
14    registration cannot be verified at the polling place shall be
15    given a provisional ballot. After the person  has  marked  or
16    otherwise cast the provisional ballot, the provisional ballot
17    shall be placed in an envelope that indicates its provisional
18    status  and  shall  be  kept  separately from non-provisional
19    ballots. If the election authority cannot verify the person's
20    valid registration through comparison of the signature on the
21    provisional ballot request with the signature on his  or  her
22    registration application, the provisional ballot shall not be
23    counted.  If  the  election  authority  verifies the person's
24    valid registration through comparison of the signature on the
25    provisional ballot request with the signature on his  or  her
26    registration  application,  the  provisional  ballot shall be
27    counted.
28        (c)  Attempted  verification  of   the   person's   valid
29    registration  must  be  timely  and  efficient. Judges at the
30    polling place may be required to make a good faith effort  to
31    contact  the  election  authority  for  verification  at  the
 
                            -2-      LRB093 05284 JAM 05374 b
 1    person's  request, and the election authority may be required
 2    to make a good faith effort to  attempt  verification  before
 3    the  provisional  ballot  has  been  cast. Once a provisional
 4    ballot is cast, the election authority must make  timely  and
 5    good  faith  efforts  to  verify the registration in order to
 6    include the provisional ballot in  the  official  canvass  of
 7    ballots.  If the person's signature on his or her provisional
 8    ballot request varies from  the  signature  on  an  otherwise
 9    valid   registration   application   solely  because  of  the
10    substitution of initials for the first or  middle  name,  the
11    election  authority  may not reject the provisional ballot as
12    that of an unqualified voter.
13        (d)  A provisional ballot may be requested  by  a  person
14    who has been provided an absentee ballot but who is unable to
15    surrender to the election judge his or her uncast ballot. The
16    provisional  ballot  shall  not  be  counted  if the absentee
17    ballot has been cast.
18        (e)  An election authority must give notice to any person
19    who cast a provisional ballot that was  not  counted  if  the
20    reason  the  ballot  was not counted was the person's lack of
21    valid  registration.  The  notice  must  explain  the   steps
22    necessary for the person to properly register.
23        (f)  To the extent possible, the rules adopted under this
24    Section   must  apply  to  provisional  ballots  this  Code's
25    procedures for handling and counting other types of  ballots,
26    including the use of electronic voting systems.