HB1452eng 99TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HB1452 Engrossed LRB099 05752 MGM 25796 b

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 adding Section 17-14.1 as follows:

(10 ILCS 5/17-14.1 new)

Sec. 17-14.1. Foreign language ballots.

(a) As used in this Section:

"Election information" means all information necessary for the public to participate fully and freely in all elections, including but not limited to, voter registration forms, candidate qualifying forms (but not nomination petitions), candidate information pamphlets, voter information pamphlets, vote by mail and regular ballots, and information about poll locations and hours of operation. "Election information" shall not include the website of an election authority, but if an election authority is required by this Section to provide foreign language election information anywhere in its jurisdiction, the front page of the website shall indicate how persons speaking the foreign language or languages in the jurisdiction can access foreign language election information. The indication required in this subsection shall be in the language or languages of the population that triggered the applicability of this Section.

"Foreign language" means Chinese, Korean, Polish, Spanish, and any combination of Gujarati, Hindi, and Urdu.

"Limited English proficiency" means a person who has been estimated by the American Community Survey to speak English less than "very well".

"Table B16001" means the dataset published by the U.S. Census Bureau or American Community Survey titled "Language spoken at home by ability to speak English for the population 5 years and over" and identified as Table B16001, or any substantially similar dataset the U.S. Census or American Community Survey publishes following any future survey.

(b) On or before June 1, 2016 and on or before June 1 of every subsequent year ending in a 1 or a 6, each election authority shall report to the State Board of Elections all census tracts in its jurisdiction in which Table B16001 demonstrates that the American Community Survey has estimated that more than 10% of the persons residing within that census tract who speak the same foreign language have been identified as having limited English proficiency. The election authority shall use information from the most recent American Community Survey estimate. The State Board of Elections shall make this list publicly available on its website on or before June 30 of the same year.

(c) Beginning with the general election held in 2016, any election authority reporting census tracts to the State Board of Elections pursuant to subsection (b) of this Section shall make all election information available in the primary non-English language of the persons having limited English proficiency identified in Table B16001. Ballots in these foreign languages need only be available to voters registered in the precincts that overlap with the census tracts identified in the reports required in subsection (b). If the foreign language that triggers the applicability of this Section is the combination of Gujarati, Hindi, and Urdu, then ballots shall be made available in Hindi only, but the election authority shall make a good-faith effort to recruit Gujarati and Urdu election judges in precincts that overlap the census tracts where the American Community Survey estimates Gujarati and Urdu speakers reside.

(d) Nothing in this Section requires an election authority to make election information available in the primary non-English language of the Limited English Proficiency persons prior to June 1, 2016.

Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon becoming law.