Full Text of HR0682 101st General Assembly
HR0682 101ST GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
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| 1 | | HOUSE RESOLUTION
| 2 | | WHEREAS, The right to vote is a fundamental right that | 3 | | shall not be infringed; and
| 4 | | WHEREAS, This right has not always been freely and equally | 5 | | applied to all persons, and the history of this nation is awash | 6 | | in efforts to suppress voting rights on the basis of race, | 7 | | ethnicity, age, and economic status; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, These efforts were renewed with particular | 9 | | virulence following the 2008 Presidential Election; and
| 10 | | WHEREAS, 25 states have implemented restrictions on free | 11 | | and equal access to voting since 2010, including the five | 12 | | states with the highest voter turnout rates in 2008; and
| 13 | | WHEREAS, 13 states have attempted to eliminate Election Day | 14 | | Registration, limit voter registration drives, and reduce | 15 | | opportunities for voters to register to vote; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Requiring voters to present a photo | 17 | | identification to cast a ballot disproportionately | 18 | | disenfranchises people who may not be able to afford time off | 19 | | from work to obtain such an ID in time to vote, work jobs with | 20 | | unconventional hours, are homeless, or are otherwise unable to |
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| 1 | | access such identification; and
| 2 | | WHEREAS, Laws that strike voters from the rolls solely on | 3 | | the basis of non-participation disproportionately | 4 | | disenfranchise elder and less mobile voters, servicepersons, | 5 | | and others, essentially infringing voters' rights as | 6 | | punishment for their choice not to vote; and
| 7 | | WHEREAS, Closing polling places on college campuses and | 8 | | imposing restrictions on students seeking to exercise their | 9 | | right goes against the public policy of Illinois to foster the | 10 | | civic responsibility of each generation; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, State and federal courts have routinely rejected | 12 | | laws attempting to limit early voting, student voting, and | 13 | | other suppressive tactics on the basis that they | 14 | | unconstitutionally infringed the right to vote; and
| 15 | | WHEREAS, Some states hide behind bureaucratic measures to | 16 | | limit voter registration; two examples are the Georgia | 17 | | Secretary of State refusing to process 53,000 voter | 18 | | registration applications, of which 70% were from African | 19 | | American voters and 80% of all the refused applications were | 20 | | from people of color, and North Dakota refusing to accept IDs | 21 | | from Native American or Indigenous voters; and
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| 1 | | WHEREAS, On the assumption that those voters moved, | 2 | | Wisconsin is attempting to remove over 200,000 registered | 3 | | voters on the basis that some had not responded to a recent | 4 | | mailing from the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and the | 5 | | December court order to remove roughly 234,000 voters is | 6 | | currently on hold pending an appeal with the Wisconsin Court of | 7 | | Appeals; and
| 8 | | WHEREAS, Florida directly rebuffed the will of their own | 9 | | people by cutting back on the 2018 voter-approved restoration | 10 | | of voting rights to ex-felons; and
| 11 | | WHEREAS, Our Midwestern neighbors, including Missouri, | 12 | | Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, Iowa and Ohio, have limited the | 13 | | early voting and voting by mail options, cut polling place | 14 | | hours, and instituted photo ID requirements or requiring proof | 15 | | of citizenship to cast a ballot; and
| 16 | | WHEREAS, Voter suppression silences communities, groups, | 17 | | and persons and allows those in power to ignore their voices in | 18 | | the public arena; and
| 19 | | WHEREAS, 2.3 million Illinois voters ratified an amendment | 20 | | to the State Constitution in 2014 rejecting these | 21 | | discriminatory voter suppression tactics; therefore, be it
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| 1 | | RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE | 2 | | HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that | 3 | | we condemn voter suppression efforts and support all efforts to | 4 | | protect the free exercise of the right to vote.
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