House fails to override veto of voter- registration bill
The Illinois House failed Tuesday to override Gov. Bruce Rauner’s veto of a bill aimed at making voter registration automatic in Illinois.
The House was just four votes shy of an override, voting 67- 47. The Senate voted to override the veto on Nov. 16.
Under the bill, people seeking a new or updated driver’s license would have been automatically registered to vote or have their registration updated unless they chose not to. Currently, drivers are asked if they want to register to vote or update their information.
During about 20 minutes of debate on Tuesday, several Republicans who initially voted for the bill’s passage said there was more work to be done.
“We didn’t make it right,” Rep. Ed Sullivan, R- Mundelein, said. “We could do it better.”
That’s something Rauner urged in his veto.
Rauner in August vetoed the bill, saying there were some “corrections” to be made before he could sign off on it. He said he supports efforts to encourage more voter participation in democracy but added that the current bill would “inadvertently open the door to voter fraud and run afoul of federal election law.”
Rauner’s administration said it had been working with both proponents and lawyers to more clearly define how automatic registration would work.
Some of the concerns included voter fraud and state agencies’ abilities to update voter registration accurately.
But Democrats on the floor said the bill would have guaranteed “the unabridged right to vote in the state of Illinois.”
Proponents of the bill said the language was carefully crafted over 18 months and would have made voter rolls more accurate and secure. They pointed the finger at politics.
“It is a shame that partisan political games derailed a commonsense bill that passed with broad- based bipartisan support just a few months ago,” said Andy Kang of Asian Americans Advancing Justice, part of the coalition Just Democracy Illinois.