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Public Act 097-0275
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| SB0098 Enrolled | LRB097 00015 JAM 40070 b |
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AN ACT concerning elections.
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Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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represented in the General Assembly:
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Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing |
Sections 19-12.1 and 19-12.2 as follows:
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(10 ILCS 5/19-12.1) (from Ch. 46, par. 19-12.1)
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Sec. 19-12.1.
Any qualified elector who has secured an |
Illinois
Disabled Person Identification Card in accordance |
with The Illinois
Identification Card Act, indicating that the |
person named thereon has a Class
1A or Class 2 disability or |
any qualified voter who has a permanent physical
incapacity of |
such a nature as to make it improbable that he will be
able to |
be present at the polls at any future election, or any
voter |
who is a resident of (i) a federally operated veterans' home, |
hospital, or facility located in Illinois or (ii) a facility |
licensed or certified pursuant to
the Nursing Home Care Act or |
the MR/DD Community Care Act and has a condition or disability |
of
such a nature as to make it improbable that he will be able |
to be present
at the polls at any future election, may secure a |
disabled voter's or
nursing home resident's identification |
card, which will enable him to vote
under this Article as a |
physically incapacitated or nursing home voter. For the |
purposes of this Section, "federally operated veterans' home, |
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hospital, or facility" means the long-term care facilities at |
the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Illiana Health Care System, |
Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Marion VA Medical Center, and |
Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center.
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Application for a disabled voter's or nursing home |
resident's
identification card shall be made either: (a) in |
writing, with voter's
sworn affidavit, to the county clerk or |
board of election commissioners, as
the case may be, and shall |
be accompanied
by the affidavit of the attending physician |
specifically describing the
nature of the physical incapacity |
or the fact that the voter is a nursing
home resident and is |
physically unable to be present at the polls on election
days; |
or (b) by presenting, in writing or otherwise, to the county |
clerk
or board of election commissioners, as the case may be, |
proof that the
applicant has secured an Illinois Disabled |
Person Identification Card
indicating that the person named |
thereon has a Class 1A or Class 2 disability.
Upon the receipt |
of either the sworn-to
application and the physician's |
affidavit or proof that the applicant has
secured an Illinois |
Disabled Person Identification Card indicating that the
person |
named thereon has a Class 1A or Class 2 disability, the county |
clerk
or board of election commissioners shall issue a disabled |
voter's or
nursing home resident's identification
card. Such |
identification cards shall be issued for a
period of 5 years, |
upon the expiration of which time the voter may
secure a new |
card by making application in the same manner as is
prescribed |
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for the issuance of an original card, accompanied by a new
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affidavit of the attending physician. The date of expiration of |
such
five-year period shall be made known to any interested |
person by the
election authority upon the request of such |
person. Applications for the
renewal of the identification |
cards shall be mailed to the voters holding
such cards not less |
than 3 months prior to the date of expiration of the cards.
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Each disabled voter's or nursing home resident's |
identification card
shall bear an identification number, which |
shall be clearly noted on the voter's
original and duplicate |
registration record cards. In the event the
holder becomes |
physically capable of resuming normal voting, he must
surrender |
his disabled voter's or nursing home resident's identification
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card to the county clerk or board of election commissioners |
before the next election.
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The holder of a disabled voter's or nursing home resident's
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identification card may make application by mail for an |
official ballot
within the time prescribed by Section 19-2. |
Such application shall contain
the same information as is
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included in the form of application for ballot by a physically
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incapacitated elector prescribed in Section 19-3 except that it |
shall
also include the applicant's disabled voter's |
identification card number
and except that it need not be sworn |
to. If an examination of the records
discloses that the |
applicant is lawfully entitled to vote, he shall be
mailed a |
ballot as provided in Section 19-4. The ballot envelope shall
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be the same as that prescribed in Section 19-5 for physically |
disabled
voters, and the manner of voting and returning the |
ballot shall be the
same as that provided in this Article for |
other absentee ballots, except
that a statement to be |
subscribed to by the voter but which need not be
sworn to shall |
be placed on the ballot envelope in lieu of the affidavit
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prescribed by Section 19-5.
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Any person who knowingly subscribes to a false statement in
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connection with voting under this Section shall be guilty of a |
Class A
misdemeanor.
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For the purposes of this Section, "nursing home resident" |
includes a resident of (i) a federally operated veterans' home, |
hospital, or facility located in Illinois or (ii) a facility |
licensed under the MR/DD Community Care Act. For the purposes |
of this Section, "federally operated veterans' home, hospital, |
or facility" means the long-term care facilities at the Jesse |
Brown VA Medical Center, Illiana Health Care System, Edward |
Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Marion VA Medical Center, and Captain |
James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. |
(Source: P.A. 96-339, eff. 7-1-10.)
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(10 ILCS 5/19-12.2) (from Ch. 46, par. 19-12.2)
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Sec. 19-12.2. Voting by physically incapacitated electors |
who have made
proper application to the election authority not |
later than 5 days before
the regular primary and general |
election of 1980 and before each election
thereafter shall be |
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conducted on the premises of (i) federally operated veterans' |
homes, hospitals, and facilities located in Illinois or (ii) |
facilities licensed or
certified pursuant to the Nursing Home |
Care Act or the MR/DD Community Care Act for the sole benefit |
of
residents of such homes, hospitals, and facilities. For the |
purposes of this Section, "federally operated veterans' home, |
hospital, or facility" means the long-term care facilities at |
the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Illiana Health Care System, |
Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Marion VA Medical Center, and |
Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. Such voting |
shall be conducted during any
continuous period sufficient to |
allow all applicants to cast their ballots
between the hours of |
9 a.m. and 7 p.m. either on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday
or |
Monday immediately preceding the regular election. This |
absentee voting on
one of said days designated by the election |
authority shall be supervised by
two election judges who must |
be selected by the election authority in the
following order of |
priority: (1) from the panel of judges appointed for the
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precinct in which such home, hospital, or facility is located, |
or from a panel of judges appointed
for any other precinct |
within the jurisdiction of the election authority in the
same |
ward or township, as the case may be, in which the home, |
hospital, or facility is located or,
only in the case where a |
judge or judges from the precinct, township or ward
are |
unavailable to serve, (3) from a panel of judges appointed for |
any other
precinct within the jurisdiction of the election |
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authority. The two judges
shall be from different political |
parties. Not less than 30 days before each
regular election, |
the election authority shall have arranged with the chief
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administrative officer of each home, hospital, or facility in |
his or its election jurisdiction a
mutually convenient time |
period on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday
immediately |
preceding the election for such voting on the premises of the |
home, hospital, or
facility and shall post in a prominent place |
in his or its office a notice of
the agreed day and time period |
for conducting such voting at each home, hospital, or facility;
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provided that the election authority shall not later than noon |
on the Thursday
before the election also post the names and |
addresses of those homes, hospitals, and facilities from
which |
no applications were received and in which no supervised |
absentee voting
will be conducted. All provisions of this Code |
applicable to pollwatchers
shall be applicable herein. To the |
maximum extent feasible, voting booths or
screens shall be |
provided to insure the privacy of the voter. Voting procedures
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shall be as described in Article 17 of this Code, except that |
ballots shall be
treated as absentee ballots and shall not be |
counted until the close of the
polls on the following day. |
After the last voter has concluded voting, the
judges shall |
seal the ballots in an envelope and affix their signatures |
across
the flap of the envelope. Immediately thereafter, the |
judges
shall bring the sealed envelope to the office of the |
election authority
who shall deliver such ballots to the |
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election authority's central ballot counting location prior to
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the closing of the polls on the day of election. The judges of |
election shall
also report to the election authority the name |
of any applicant in the home, hospital, or facility
who, due to |
unforeseen circumstance or condition or because
of a religious |
holiday, was unable to vote. In this event, the election
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authority may appoint a qualified person from his or its staff |
to deliver
the ballot to such applicant on the day of election. |
This staff person
shall follow the same procedures prescribed |
for judges conducting absentee
voting in such homes, hospitals, |
or facilities and shall return the ballot to the central ballot |
counting location before the polls close. However, if the home, |
hospital, or facility from
which the application was made is |
also used as a regular precinct polling place
for that voter, |
voting procedures heretofore prescribed may be implemented by 2
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of the election judges of opposite party affiliation assigned |
to that polling
place during the hours of voting on the day of |
the election. Judges of election
shall be compensated not less |
than $25.00 for conducting absentee voting in
such homes, |
hospitals, or facilities.
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Not less than 120 days before each regular election, the |
Department
of Public Health shall certify to the State Board of |
Elections a list of
the facilities licensed or certified |
pursuant to the Nursing Home Care
Act or the MR/DD Community |
Care Act. The lists , and shall indicate the approved bed |
capacity and the name of
the chief administrative officer of |