County Clerk Mark Shelden has blogged about the new election law just signed by Gov. Blagojevich.
Allows first time voters to cast an absentee ballot by mail if they provide sufficient ID to the election authority.
Allows people who sign a petition for one political party to cross over and cast a ballot in the primary of a different political party.
There's more, but that second provision was a point of contention in the 2005 Democratic Primary for Urbana Mayor, when some Laurel Prussing supporters claimed that people who signed petitions for GOP candidates shouldn't be allowed to vote in the Democratic Primary.
Read the whole thing - he points out an interesting problem with undervotes. (At least, it's interesting to me...)
"...when some Laurel Prussing supporters claimed that people who signed petitions for GOP candidates shouldn't be allowed to vote in the Democratic Primary."
The reason they 'claimed' that is because it was the law. If the law is changed, then I wouldn't expect anyone to be 'claiming' it in the future.
so then you would agree that UI students that don't change their address when they move should be challenged at the polls and shouldn't be allowed to vote because that is the law.....
so then you would agree that UI students that don't change their address when they move should be challenged at the polls and shouldn't be allowed to vote because that is the law.....
IIRC, there have been pollwatchers at campus voting locations looking for that exact thing. But as you say, it's the law.
I know the pollwatchers have been there but they seem to get alot of flak for what they do....
I don't have a problem with students voting and I hope I didn't come across that way. I do have a problem with cutting them slack because they neglect to change their address when they move. Maybe we need some kind of motor voter type law that would require landlords to offer voter registration services.
curious, you are right. the law is clear, although some suggested that it wasn't. this was also an issue in the primary election for County Board District 9 in 2006.
So could a student vote in the precinct that they are registered and then go into another student precinct and vote again? It would be illegal but hey maybe they went into their new precinct and they were allowed to vote by some "understanding" dem. and then they thought that was fun and went to their old precinct and voted were they were still registered.
...and they were allowed to vote by some "understanding" dem. and...
I like how the assumption is made that only democratic students would do this....
"I like how the assumption is made that only democratic students would do this...."
Perhaps the assumption is that they would be more likely to be dem because most students are. ;-)
:-) That's what Jesse used to say about banks right, that's were the big money is.
"The reason they 'claimed' that is because it was the law."
Actually, I think the law was ambiguous, and has now been clarified. At least that's how I remember the controversy, but I could very well be wrong. Anyone know what the old statute specified? Mark?
"curious, you are right. the law is clear, although some suggested that it wasn't. this was also an issue in the primary election for County Board District 9 in 2006. "
Doh! Mark's already posted: curious was right, and I was wrong. Sorry!
So, if I sign nominating petitions for different candidates in different parties for different offices, which party would get to prevent me from voting in the primary? (example: If I signed Dave Tomlinson's petition for representative but signed Joe Biden for president.)
I'm asking in part because I have voted in the republican primary for the last few elections, but I plan on voting in the dem. primary this time around. (Wouldn't want to miss the chance to vote twice against Hillary!!)
the new law allows you to vote in whatever primary you want regardless of whose petitions you signed.
"(Wouldn't want to miss the chance to vote twice against Hillary!!)"
I hope that makes your day. Be sure to have some pudding and watch some cartoons after you do that.
Do they still have the tins of Del Monte pudding? Mmm -- pudding.
So could a student vote in the precinct that they are registered and then go into another student precinct and vote again? It would be illegal but hey maybe they went into their new precinct and they were allowed to vote by some "understanding" dem. and then they thought that was fun and went to their old precinct and voted were they were still registered.
Ummm ... I was a Dem election judge in 2006 and turned away people with incorrect addresses. When you serve, you have to sign something promising to uphold the law.
While there are some positive aspects to this bill (multi-partisan petition signing and reduction of independent signatures requirements), it has some major flaws and missed opportunity for larger electoral reform.
The bill triples the signature requirement for candidates in DuPage County. It only affects DuPage County, failing to meet equal protection. This will hurt Republicans challenging the status quo of their party, and the opposition parties in the county - Greens and Democrats.
Primary ballots are supposed to be certified by December 6th - the same date as the deadline for write-in candidates. This leaves no time for candidates who were challenged and remove from the primary ballot to file as a write-in, nor does it allow potential write-in candidates a chance to view the completed ballot before making a decision.
The bill brought the independent requirement down to the level of new parties and moved their filing date up to June. However, the signature requirements are still tremendously high for independents and new parties.
I think you'll see legislation changing the signature requirements for independents change, and I agree that needs to be done.
The writein provision is waived if there is a pending challenge. As to others looking at the ballot, they have plenty of opportunities to know what is on the ballot. The problem we have right now is that thousands of wasted votes happen in Champaign County because people are under the mistaken impression that you can write someone in and have it count, even if they haven't filed. Taking away that writein line when there is no candidate takes away that problem. Also, it will shorten the ballot, making it easier to get more issues on the front of the ballot and for some counties it might be the difference between having one or two ballots.
I don't know what the issue was in DuPage where they changed the signature requirements. I don't think it is an equal protection issue though. Cook has numerous election laws that apply only to them.
Someone asked about the old deadline for writeins and that was 7 days prior to the election.
Glad to hear the provision is waived for pending challenges.
It wasn't DuPage that changed the signature requirements. SB662 changed them. Now the law reads that county board and countywide candidates need to collect petition signatures equal to 0.5% of qualified electors (or 1.5% if the county is DuPage County). There is no good reason to only raise signature requirements in DuPage. I've heard it argued that the DuPage population has increased, so signature requirements need to be increased as well. But the percentage takes care of that!
Would you be okay with the general assembly tripling the signature requirements of county candidates in Champaign County?
when i said DuPage did it, I meant that it was done at the behest of people in DuPage. And no, I think the signature requriements for established political party candidates are good right where they are.