SB1370 96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

LRB096 05723 AJT 15791 b

96TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2009 and 2010
SB1370

Introduced 2/10/2009, by Sen. M. Maggie Crotty

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:

15 ILCS 335/5.5 new
625 ILCS 5/2-105	from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 2-105

Amends the Illinois Identification Card Act and the Illinois Vehicle Code. Replaces language regarding the use of driver services facilities as temporary places of voter registration with language providing that: applicants for driver's licenses and State identification cards at driver services facilities shall be asked if they wish to apply to register to vote; it is the responsibility of an applicant to determine whether he or she is legally eligible to vote; applicants who apply to register to vote shall complete a voter registration application which the Secretary of State shall forward to the appropriate local election authority; applicants who do not wish to apply to register to vote shall sign a declination statement; and the Secretary of State shall maintain a database of all persons who complete voter registration applications at driver services facilities.

A BILL FOR

AN ACT concerning voter registration.

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

Section 5. The Illinois Identification Card Act is amended by adding Section 5.5 as follows:

(15 ILCS 335/5.5 new)

Sec. 5.5. Voter registration. All applicants who will be at least 18 years of age at the next election and who appear at a Secretary of State driver services facility for the issuance of an original, duplicate, corrected, or renewal identification card shall be asked if they wish to apply to register to vote. It shall be the responsibility of the applicant to determine whether the applicant is otherwise legally eligible to register to vote. Applicants who apply to register to vote shall complete a voter registration application, which the Secretary shall forward to the appropriate local election authority. Applicants who do not wish to apply to register to vote shall sign a declination statement. The Secretary shall maintain a database of all persons who complete voter registration applications at driver services facilities.

Section 10. The Illinois Vehicle Code is amended by changing Section 2-105 as follows:

(625 ILCS 5/2-105) (from Ch. 95 1/2, par. 2-105)

Sec. 2-105. Offices of Secretary of State.

(a) The Secretary of State shall maintain offices in the State capital and in such other places in the State as he may deem necessary to properly carry out the powers and duties vested in him.

(b) The Secretary of State may construct and equip one or more buildings in the State of Illinois outside of the County of Sangamon as he deems necessary to properly carry out the powers and duties vested in him. The Secretary of State may, on behalf of the State of Illinois, acquire public or private property needed therefor by lease, purchase or eminent domain. The care, custody and control of such sites and buildings constructed thereon shall be vested in the Secretary of State. Expenditures for the construction and equipping of any of such buildings upon premises owned by another public entity shall not be subject to the provisions of any State law requiring that the State be vested with absolute fee title to the premises. The exercise of the authority vested in the Secretary of State by this Section is subject to the appropriation of the necessary funds.

(c) All applicants who will be at least 18 years of age at the next election and who appear at a Secretary of State driver services facility for the issuance of an original, duplicate, corrected, or renewal driver's license, except for applicants for a temporary visitor's driver's license, shall be asked if they wish to apply to register to vote. It shall be the responsibility of the applicant to determine whether the applicant is otherwise legally eligible to register to vote. Applicants who apply to register to vote shall complete a voter registration application, which the Secretary shall forward to the appropriate local election authority. Applicants who do not wish to apply to register to vote shall sign a declination statement. The Secretary shall maintain a database of all persons who complete voter registration applications at driver services facilities. Pursuant to Sections 4-6.2, 5-16.2, and 6-50.2 of the Election Code, the Secretary of State shall make driver services facilities available for use as temporary places of registration. Registration within the offices shall be in the most public, orderly and convenient portions thereof, and Section 4-3, 5-3, and 11-4 of the Election Code relative to the attendance of police officers during the conduct of registration shall apply. Registration under this Section shall be made in the manner provided by Sections 4-8, 4-10, 5-7, 5-9, 6-34, 6-35, and 6-37 of the Election Code.

(d) (Blank). Within 30 days after the effective date of this amendatory Act of 1990, and no later than November 1 of each even-numbered year thereafter, the Secretary of State, to the extent practicable, shall designate to each election authority in the State a reasonable number of employees at each driver services facility registered to vote within the jurisdiction of such election authority and within adjacent election jurisdictions for appointment as deputy registrars by the election authority located within the election jurisdiction where the employees maintain their residences. Such designation shall be in writing and certified by the Secretary of State.

(e) (Blank). Each person applying at a driver services facility for a driver's license or permit, a corrected driver's license or permit, an Illinois identification card or a corrected Illinois identification card shall be notified that the person may register at such station to vote in the State and may also transfer his voter registration at such station to a different address in the State. Such notification may be made in writing or verbally issued by an employee or the Secretary of State.

The Secretary of State shall promulgate such rules as may be necessary for the efficient execution of his duties and the duties of his employees under this amendatory Act of 1990.

(f) Any person applying at a driver services facility for issuance or renewal of a driver's license or Illinois Identification Card shall be provided, without charge, with a brochure warning the person of the dangers of financial identity theft. The Department of Financial and Professional Regulation shall prepare these brochures and provide them to the Secretary of State for distribution. The brochures shall (i) identify signs warning the reader that he or she might be an intended victim of the crime of financial identity theft, (ii) instruct the reader in how to proceed if the reader believes that he or she is the victim of the crime of identity theft, and (iii) provide the reader with names and telephone numbers of law enforcement and other governmental agencies that provide assistance to victims of financial identity theft.

(Source: P.A. 94-645, eff. 8-22-05; 94-1001, eff. 1-1-07.)