CHICAGO – Today, iVote proudly announced that 62 candidates for the state legislature have pledged their support for Illinois Senate Bill 2134 which would enact automatic voter registration in the state. The full list, which includes both Republicans and Democrats, is below. iVote pledges to hold opponents accountable to their constituents.
Earlier this year, iVote, a group of voting rights educators and advocates, mailed every Illinois legislative candidate a commitment form asking them to either commit to supporting automatic voter registration legislation or to register their opposition. The form was due back to iVote by February 19th.
“We're pleased that so many legislators and potential legislators have shown their commitment to ensuring more people vote, and especially pleased that in this time of partisan discord automatic voter registration attracted support from members of both parties. And it should be no surprise why -- automatic voter registration would make our elections more modern, fair and representative, and it would do so securely,” said iVote board member Pete Giangreco. “We applaud these champions of democracy. At the same time, we will ensure voters are aware of candidates who refused to pledge to support common sense electoral reform.”
Illinois has more than 2 million eligible citizens who are not registered to vote. At the same time, in the last mid-term election we saw our lowest turnout since World War II. The bill, introduced by Senator Andy Manar, would remove the burden of registering from citizens and automatically register them to vote when they get or renew a driver's license or state ID card unless they opt-out. The DMV already is able to determine eligibility and register voters through existing motor voter laws. Automatic voter registration would simply change the existing process from opt-in to opt-out.
Giangreco also pointed to polling conducted by iVote in Ohio noting, “By a wide, 36-point margin, Ohioans support enacting automatic voter registration, including a majority of Independents, Democrats and Republicans.”
The legislation introduced in Illinois is similar to what has been enacted in Oregon and California, where iVote invested six-figures in a paid media campaign to encourage legislators to support automatic voter registration. In the last year, automatic voter registration legislation has been introduced in more than 30 states, with many of the bills receiving bipartisan support.
Illinois legislative candidates pledging to support Senate Bill 2134:
Angelica Alfaro (D)
Rep. Jaime Andrade (D)
Christine Benson (D)
Sen. Jennifer Bertino-Tarrant (D)
Sen. Daniel Biss (D)
Cynthia Borbas (D)
Sen. Melinda Bush (D)
Steve Caramelli (D)
Cristina Castro (D)
Jac Charlier (D)
Nick Ciko (D)
Sen. Jacqueline Collins (D)
Sen. Tom Cullerton (D)
Sen. Bill Cunningham (D)
Rep. Barbara Flynn Currie (D)
John Curtis (D)
Tony DelGiorno (D)
Rep. Ken Dunkin (D)
Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D)
Hon. Bob Fioretti (D)
Sen. Gary Forby (D)
Rep. Jack Franks (D)
Jason Gonzales (D)
Marsha Griffin (D)
Rep. Will Guzzardi (D)
Sen. Don Harmon (D)
Rep. Sonya Harper (D)
Sen. Napoleon Harris (D)
Sen. Michael Hastings (D)
Christopher Hicks (R)
Rep. Jay Hoffman (D)
Katelyn Hotle (D)
Sen. Mattie Hunter (D)
Sen. Toi Hutchinson (D)
Jeff Jacobs (D)
Sen. Emil Jones (D)
Jason Kasiar (R)
Jonathan Kaye (R)
Sen. Dave Koehler (D)
Sen. Kimberly Lightford (D)
Sen. Andy Manar (D)
Sen. Iris Martinez (D)
Merry Marwig (D)
Mike Mathis (D)
Sen. Pat McGuire (D)
Sen. Julie Morrison (D)
Sen. John Mulroe (D)
Sen. Laura Murphy (D)
Sen. Mike Noland (D)
Harish Patel (D)
Gary Pierce (R)
Corinne Pierog (D)
Bobby Pritchett (D)
Genita Robinson (D)
Sen. Ira Silverstein (D)
Hon. Sheila Simon (D)
Sen. Steve Stadelman (D)
Sen. Heather Steans (D)
Katie Stuart (D)
Tricia Sweeney (D)
Sen. Patricia Van Pelt (D)
Kenny Williams (D)
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About iVote
iVote, a voting rights campaign dedicated to the powerful notion that every eligible citizen should vote, recently launched multiple offensives to expand access to voting.
The iVote Board of Directors includes Doug Sosnik, Frank Smith, Ellen Kurz, Jeremy Bird, Michael Blake, Rachael Cobb, Valeisha Butterfield-Jones, and Pete Giangreco. iVote is being advised by 270 Strategies, AKPD Message and Media, David Binder Research, and Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research.
Alicja Otap
