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1 | AN ACT concerning elections.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing Section | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | 18A-15 as follows:
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6 | (10 ILCS 5/18A-15)
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7 | Sec. 18A-15. Validating and counting provisional ballots.
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8 | (a) The county clerk or board of election commissioners | |||||||||||||||||||
9 | shall complete the
validation and counting of provisional | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | ballots within 14 calendar days of
the day of the election. The | |||||||||||||||||||
11 | county clerk or board of election commissioners
shall have 7 | |||||||||||||||||||
12 | calendar days from the completion of the validation and
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13 | counting of provisional ballots to conduct its final canvass. | |||||||||||||||||||
14 | The State Board
of Elections shall complete within 31 calendar | |||||||||||||||||||
15 | days of the election or sooner
if all the returns are received, | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | its final canvass of the vote for all public
offices.
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17 | (b) Except as provided in subsection (i), if If a county | |||||||||||||||||||
18 | clerk or board of election commissioners determines that all
of | |||||||||||||||||||
19 | the following apply, then a provisional ballot is valid and | |||||||||||||||||||
20 | shall be counted
as a vote:
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21 | (1) the provisional voter cast the provisional ballot | |||||||||||||||||||
22 | in the correct
precinct based on the address provided by | |||||||||||||||||||
23 | the provisional voter. The provisional voter's affidavit |
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1 | shall serve as a change of address request by that voter | ||||||
2 | for registration purposes for the next ensuing election if | ||||||
3 | it bears an address different from that in the records of | ||||||
4 | the election authority;
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5 | (2) the affidavit executed by the provisional voter | ||||||
6 | pursuant to subsection
(b)(2) of Section 18A-5 contains, at | ||||||
7 | a minimum, the provisional voter's first and last name, | ||||||
8 | house number and street name, and signature or mark;
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9 | (3) the provisional voter is a registered voter based | ||||||
10 | on information
available to the county clerk or board of | ||||||
11 | election commissioners provided by or
obtained from any of | ||||||
12 | the following:
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13 | i. the provisional voter;
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14 | ii. an election judge;
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15 | iii. the statewide voter registration database | ||||||
16 | maintained by the State
Board of Elections;
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17 | iv. the records of the county clerk or board of | ||||||
18 | election commissioners'
database; or
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19 | v. the records of the Secretary of State; and | ||||||
20 | (4) for a provisional ballot cast under item (6) of | ||||||
21 | subsection (a) of Section 18A-5, the voter did not vote by | ||||||
22 | absentee ballot in the election at which the provisional | ||||||
23 | ballot was cast.
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24 | (c) With respect to subsection (b)(3) of this Section, the | ||||||
25 | county clerk or
board of election commissioners shall | ||||||
26 | investigate and record whether or not the specified information |
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1 | is available from each of the 5 identified sources. If the | ||||||
2 | information is available from one or more of the identified | ||||||
3 | sources, then the
county clerk or board of election | ||||||
4 | commissioners shall seek to obtain the
information from each of | ||||||
5 | those sources until satisfied, with information from at least | ||||||
6 | one of those sources, that the provisional voter is registered | ||||||
7 | and entitled to vote. The county clerk
or board of election | ||||||
8 | commissioners shall use any information it obtains as the
basis | ||||||
9 | for determining the voter registration status of the | ||||||
10 | provisional voter.
If a conflict exists among the information | ||||||
11 | available to the county clerk or
board of election | ||||||
12 | commissioners as to the registration status of the
provisional | ||||||
13 | voter, then the county clerk or board of election commissioners
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14 | shall make a
determination based on the totality of the | ||||||
15 | circumstances. In a case where the
above information equally | ||||||
16 | supports or opposes the registration status of the
voter, the | ||||||
17 | county clerk or board of election commissioners shall decide in
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18 | favor of the provisional voter as being duly registered to | ||||||
19 | vote. If the
statewide voter registration database maintained | ||||||
20 | by the State Board of
Elections indicates that the provisional | ||||||
21 | voter is registered to vote, but the
county clerk's or board of | ||||||
22 | election commissioners' voter registration database
indicates | ||||||
23 | that the provisional voter is not registered to vote, then the
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24 | information found in the statewide voter registration database | ||||||
25 | shall control
the matter and the provisional voter shall be | ||||||
26 | deemed to be registered to vote.
If the records of the county |
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1 | clerk or board of election commissioners indicates
that the | ||||||
2 | provisional
voter is registered to vote, but the statewide | ||||||
3 | voter registration database
maintained by the State Board of | ||||||
4 | Elections indicates that the provisional voter
is not | ||||||
5 | registered to vote, then the information found in the records | ||||||
6 | of the
county clerk or board of election commissioners shall | ||||||
7 | control the matter and
the provisional voter shall be deemed to | ||||||
8 | be registered to vote. If the
provisional voter's signature on | ||||||
9 | his or her provisional ballot request varies
from the signature | ||||||
10 | on
an otherwise valid registration application solely because | ||||||
11 | of the substitution
of initials for the first or middle name, | ||||||
12 | the election authority may not reject
the provisional ballot.
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13 | (d) In validating the registration status of a person | ||||||
14 | casting a provisional
ballot, the county clerk or board of | ||||||
15 | election commissioners shall not require a
provisional voter to | ||||||
16 | complete any form other than the affidavit executed by the
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17 | provisional voter under subsection (b)(2) of Section 18A-5. In | ||||||
18 | addition,
the
county clerk or board of election commissioners | ||||||
19 | shall not require all
provisional voters or
any particular | ||||||
20 | class or group of provisional voters to appear personally | ||||||
21 | before
the county clerk or board of election commissioners or | ||||||
22 | as a matter of policy
require provisional voters to submit | ||||||
23 | additional information to verify or
otherwise support the | ||||||
24 | information already submitted by the provisional voter.
The | ||||||
25 | provisional voter may, within 2 calendar days after the | ||||||
26 | election, submit
additional information to the county clerk or |
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1 | board of election commissioners.
This information must be | ||||||
2 | received by the county clerk or board of election
commissioners | ||||||
3 | within the 2-calendar-day period.
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4 | (e) If the county clerk or board of election commissioners | ||||||
5 | determines that
subsection (b)(1), (b)(2), or (b)(3) does not | ||||||
6 | apply, then the provisional
ballot is not valid
and may not be | ||||||
7 | counted. The provisional ballot envelope containing the ballot
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8 | cast by the provisional voter may not be opened. The county | ||||||
9 | clerk or board of
election commissioners shall write on the | ||||||
10 | provisional ballot envelope the
following: "Provisional ballot | ||||||
11 | determined invalid.".
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12 | (f) If the county clerk or board of election commissioners | ||||||
13 | determines that a
provisional ballot is valid under this | ||||||
14 | Section, then the provisional ballot
envelope shall be opened. | ||||||
15 | The outside of each provisional ballot
envelope shall
also be
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16 | marked to identify the precinct and the date of the election.
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17 | (g) Provisional ballots determined to be valid shall be | ||||||
18 | counted at the election authority's central ballot counting | ||||||
19 | location and shall not be counted in precincts. The provisional | ||||||
20 | ballots determined to be valid shall be added to the
vote
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21 | totals for the precincts from which they were cast in the order | ||||||
22 | in which the
ballots were opened.
The validation and counting | ||||||
23 | of provisional ballots shall be subject to the
provisions of | ||||||
24 | this Code that apply to pollwatchers.
If the provisional | ||||||
25 | ballots are a ballot of a punch card
voting system, then the | ||||||
26 | provisional ballot shall be counted in a manner
consistent with |
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1 | Article 24A. If the provisional ballots
are a ballot of optical | ||||||
2 | scan or other type of approved electronic voting
system, then | ||||||
3 | the provisional ballots shall be counted in a manner consistent
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4 | with Article 24B.
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5 | (h) As soon as the ballots have been counted, the election | ||||||
6 | judges or
election officials shall, in
the presence of the | ||||||
7 | county clerk or board of election commissioners, place each
of | ||||||
8 | the following items in a separate envelope or bag: (1) all | ||||||
9 | provisional
ballots, voted or spoiled; (2)
all provisional | ||||||
10 | ballot envelopes of provisional ballots voted or spoiled; and
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11 | (3) all executed affidavits
of the provisional ballots voted or | ||||||
12 | spoiled.
All provisional ballot envelopes for provisional | ||||||
13 | voters who have been
determined
not to be registered to vote | ||||||
14 | shall remain sealed. The county clerk or board of
election | ||||||
15 | commissioners shall treat the provisional ballot envelope | ||||||
16 | containing
the written affidavit as a voter registration | ||||||
17 | application for that person for
the next election and process | ||||||
18 | that application.
The election judges or election officials | ||||||
19 | shall then
securely
seal each envelope or bag, initial the | ||||||
20 | envelope or bag, and plainly mark on the
outside of the | ||||||
21 | envelope or bag in ink the precinct in which the provisional
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22 | ballots were cast. The election judges or election officials | ||||||
23 | shall then place
each sealed envelope or
bag into a box, secure | ||||||
24 | and seal it in the same manner as described in
item (6) of | ||||||
25 | subsection (b) of Section 18A-5. Each election judge or | ||||||
26 | election
official shall take and subscribe an oath
before the |
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1 | county clerk or
board of election commissioners that the | ||||||
2 | election judge or election official
securely kept the
ballots | ||||||
3 | and papers in the box, did not permit any person to open the | ||||||
4 | box or
otherwise touch or tamper with the ballots and papers in | ||||||
5 | the box, and has no
knowledge of any other person opening the | ||||||
6 | box.
For purposes of this Section, the term "election official" | ||||||
7 | means the county
clerk, a member of the board of election | ||||||
8 | commissioners, as the case may be, and
their respective | ||||||
9 | employees.
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10 | (i) If the county clerk or board of election commissioners, | ||||||
11 | as the case may be, determines that a registered voter was | ||||||
12 | entitled to cast a provisional ballot under paragraph (1) of | ||||||
13 | subsection (a) of Section 18A-5 only because of the provisional | ||||||
14 | voter's change of address, and that the provisional voter cast | ||||||
15 | the provisional ballot in the correct
precinct based on the | ||||||
16 | address provided by the provisional voter, the county clerk or | ||||||
17 | board of election commissioners, as the case may be, shall find | ||||||
18 | that the provisional ballot is valid unless the county clerk or | ||||||
19 | board of election commissioners has grounds to believe the | ||||||
20 | affidavit is false. The provisional voter's affidavit shall | ||||||
21 | serve as a change of address request by that voter for | ||||||
22 | registration purposes for the next ensuing election. | ||||||
23 | (Source: P.A. 97-766, eff. 7-6-12.)
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