SE Illinois News

State Rep. Darren Bailey (R-Xenia) opposes Gov. J.B. Pritzker signing into law Senate Bill 1863 and House Bill 2238 to make Election Day another state holiday, saying this will require the secretary of state and election authorities to spend unnecessary tax dollars.

Under the guise of making the election safer because of the COVID-19 scare, expanding mail-in (absentee) voting through statewide mailings to voters from 2017-2020 is an unnecessary mandate, Bailey says, and adds costs at a time when the state budget already is unbalanced.

“This new law creates a new state holiday for schools, colleges, and government offices and mandates that if an election authority demands the use of a school for voting, the local school board cannot say no," Bailey said. "I am opposed to this mandated overreach of authority of one government entity over another.  Illinois law already allows voters to request an absentee ballot for any reason, even for those who may be unable to travel for health reasons like the coronavirus concern.”

The new law requires that election offices mail or email applications to vote by mail to those voters who cast ballots in the 2018 general election, the 2019 consolidated election or the 2020 general primary. Those who turn in their vote by mail application by Oct. 1 will get their ballot by Oct. 6. Bailey views this as a massive waste.

“There is no reason to mandate the spending of millions of additional dollars in printing, postage and labor costs to send ‘vote by mail’ applications to all voters since 2017 to tell people something they already have known for many years now: that they can vote absentee in Illinois,” he said

The bill expands early voting hours at permanent polling places and mandates ballot collection boxes to collect absentee ballots, but Bailey says adequate safeguards are missing, which should protect the ballots from tampering and theft.  A bipartisan panel of three election judges must verify voters’ signature and the validity of the ballot.

“The state and nation are facing unprecedented threats to fair and open elections and this legislation does nothing to curb that threat," Bailey said. "The governor claims it expands the ability for people to vote safely when those options to vote absentee and curbside already exist. What is new in this legislation are the mandates on local county clerks and forced costs for unnecessary printing, postage, and processing of paperwork.”