Mary Miller Highlights Illinois Voter Roll Integrity Issues

Voter Roll Integrity in Illinois

• 🎯 Illinois's voter roles are criticized for failing to maintain accuracy and contain only eligible voters, undermining public confidence.
• ⚖️ States like Illinois are accused of not upholding their responsibilities under the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA).
• 🏛️ The Department of Justice recently filed a statement of interest in Judicial Watch's lawsuit against the Illinois State Board of Elections regarding this issue.

Failures in List Maintenance

• 📊 According to the 2022 Election Administration Voting Survey, 34 jurisdictions in Illinois failed to report data regarding list maintenance removals under the NVRA.
• 💀 Of these, 19 counties reported no registrants removed due to death, implying no one died in those areas.
• 📉 In 23 Illinois counties, fewer than 100 registrations were cancelled over two years out of nearly 1 million, which is described as an absurdly small number.

Legal Standards and Reporting

• ❓ The reasonable effort standard for voter list maintenance is questioned, with a Sixth Circuit ruling suggesting a program is sufficient regardless of its effectiveness.
• military voters, there is no statutory obligation to report data for regular voters concerning list maintenance.
• 📝 It is suggested that Congress could extend reporting requirements to cover all voters, not just military personnel, as part of the NVRA.

Best Practices in Voter List Maintenance

• 📋 Election officials traditionally prescribe regulations for voter list maintenance through a combination of statutory obligations and NVRA requirements.
• 📈 Virginia, under Governor McDonald, implemented aggressive statutory provisions for list maintenance, including annual reports to the general assembly detailing activities.
• 🔍 A significant issue identified was the failure to conduct comprehensive comparisons of death files against voter registration lists, leading to dead voters remaining on rolls for extended periods.
• 🏃 Aggressive list maintenance efforts can lead to lawsuits, as experienced in Virginia when cancellations were made leading up to a general election.