Just Democracy Settles Claims with Secretary of State to Address Voter Registration Issues with Driver Services

June 28, 2021 – Six advocacy groups representing the steering committee of the nonpartisan Just Democracy Illinois coalition have reached a legal settlement with Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White to fix key problems with the rollout of Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) in Illinois.

“This agreement means that a lot of voters across Illinois who’ve been left out of the process will be able to access the ballot,” said Jay Young of Common Cause Illinois. “It strengthens our democracy at a time when many states are attempting to weaken it.”

“While AVR was intended to expand Illinois’ voting rolls in a fair, accurate, and secure way, the law’s implementation fell short of that,” said Senior Counsel Ami Gandhi of Chicago Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights, which is representing the advocacy groups.

“This settlement creates a legally binding channel of communication between marginalized community members and government authorities who are held responsible for fulfilling that long-delayed promise,” said Andy Kang of Asian Americans Advancing Justice – Chicago.

Click here to read our full press release.

Just Democracy IL Files Lawsuit Against State Agencies for Bungling AVR Implementation

February 28, 2020 – After more than two years’ efforts working with state agencies stalled, six advocacy groups representing the nonpartisan Just Democracy Illinois coalition have filed a lawsuit in federal court against the Illinois Secretary of State’s office (SOS) and the Illinois Board of Elections (SBOE) for failing to properly implement Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) and violating federal and state voting rights laws. The coalition is seeking a court order to fix the implementation problems.

The suit charges that implementation of the voter registration law, which was supposed to be implemented in July 2018, has been riddled with problems and massively delayed. Three elections have passed without AVR properly in place. Earlier this year, the Secretary of State’s office revealed that it failed to protect hundreds of people who identified as non-citizens from being accidentally registered. The agency also allowed several thousand 16-year-olds to begin the registration process and sent election officials the information of eligible voters who appeared to decline to be registered.

Read our full press release.

Just Democracy Demands IL Secretary of State’s Office Fix AVR

On January 28, 2020, six organizations representing Just Democracy sent a legal notice letter to the Illinois Secretary of State’s office with a demand to fix new and ongoing violations of state and federal voting laws in the implementation of Automatic Voter Registration (AVR), just one week after reports surfaced that the agency caused individuals who may have been non-citizens to be registered to vote. The coalition is calling on the Secretary of State’s office to come to the table and make a binding agreement to fix the problems in its implementation of AVR. Read our full statement here.

Just Democracy responds to voter registration of non-citizens

In response to reports that the Illinois Secretary of State’s office caused individuals who may have been non-citizens to register to vote through their flawed automatic voter registration program, Just Democracy Illinois released the following statement on January 21, 2020:

As nonpartisan advocates for a modern, secure, and robust democracy, the members of Just Democracy are angry that the Secretary of State’s Office has apparently sent information on a number of non-citizens to elections officials who then registered them to vote – an unconscionable error that puts vulnerable people at terrible personal risk while undermining confidence in our elections process. Read our full statement here.

Just Democracy calls for strong and timely implementation of Automatic Voter Registration in Illinois

Voting is a fundamental right and part of what makes America great. Our democracy works best when everyone makes their voice heard on election day. Over the past several years, voting rights advocates and local elections administrators have worked with the Illinois General Assembly to pass laws to increase turnout by lowering the barriers for eligible citizens to register to vote. Because of this work, eligible Illinoisans can register to vote online, at the DMV, or at the polls on Election Day.

Illinois took its next step forward in 2017. Automatic Voter Registration (AVR) passed in Illinois with unanimous, bipartisan support, and Gov. Rauner signed it into law in August 2017. AVR modernizes and improves the voter registration process — the gateway to voting. AVR changes the process to register to vote at state agencies from an opt-in system, where eligible voters must to take multiple additional steps to be registered, to an opt-out system that registers all eligible voters unless they request to be left off the voter rolls. AVR also shifts agency registration from a paper-based to electronic system. A well-designed AVR system registers more eligible voters, saves taxpayer money, and results in a more accurate and secure voter list.

Unfortunately, the Secretary of State’s office has failed to properly implement AVR. Just Democracy has said that to fulfill the promise of AVR, Illinois government leaders must implement the law in a strong, timely, and community-centered manner. Illinois has missed the July 1, 2018 statutory deadline for opt-out registration at Driver Services facilities, which is the action that would make registration “automatic” for a huge number of Illinois voters. If implementation had been proper and timely, eligible voters would have been automatically registered for the November 6, 2018 election, as well as municipal elections in early 2019.

The Secretary of State’s office must follow the spirit and the letter of the law by implementing AVR correctly and without further delay.

On December 13, 2018, members of the Just Democracy coalition sent a letter to the Secretary of State’s office outlining the agency’s violations of state and federal law:

  • The Secretary of State is currently violating Illinois’ AVR law, as well as the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA), by failing to make the process truly “automatic” and by delaying its full implementation by over five months past the legal deadline.
  • If AVR had been implemented correctly, experts estimated that over one million eligible, not-currently-registered voters could have been added to the voter rolls over time.
  • The Secretary of State’s current plan is poised to miss municipal elections in early 2019, which have an important impact on the daily lives of Illinois residents.

The Just Democracy Coalition supports an AVR policy that:

  • Is enacted in all state agencies covered by the National Voter Registration Act (Driver Services, Human Services, Health and Family Services, Employment Security, Aging),
  • Takes appropriate steps to ensure non-citizens are not accidentally registered, and
  • Maintains key privacy protections

To get involved with the campaign for Automatic Voter Registration or become a member of Just Democracy Illinois, please fill out the form at the bottom of this page.

Campaign Endorsers

AARP IL
Action Now Institute
AFSCME Council 31
Alliance of Filipinos for Immigrant Rights &
Empowerment
American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois
Asian Americans Advancing Justice-Chicago
Better Government Association
Brighton Park Neighborhood Council
Council on American-Islamic Relations Chicago
Cambodian Association of Illinois
CHANGE Illinois
Chicago Coalition for the Homeless
Chicago Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights
Chicago Teachers Union
Chicago Votes
Chinese American Service League
Chinese Mutual Aid Association
Citizen Action Illinois
Coalition for a Better Chinese American
Community
Common Cause Illinois
DuPage County Building & Construction Trades
Equality Illinois
Equip for Equality
Faith Coalition for the Common Good
Gamaliel of Illinois
Grassroots Collaborative
Health & Medicine Policy Research Group
IBEW Local 9
IBEW Local 15
IBEW Local 196
Illinois Campaign for Political Reform
Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee
Rights
Illinois Environmental Council
Illinois Public Interest Research Group
Indo-American Center
Japanese American Service Committee
Hana Center
Laborers Midwest Division
Lao American Association of Elgin
Latino Policy Forum
League of Women Voters Illinois
Muslim Women Resource Center
NAACP State Council
National Council of Jewish Women – State Policy
Network
National Council of Jewish Women Chicago
North Shore Section
National Nurses Organizing Committee
National Nurses United
One Northside
Painters District Council 14
Planned Parenthood Illinois Action
Rainbow Push Coalition
Reclaim Chicago
South Asian American Policy & Research
Institute
SEIU Local 1
SEIU Healthcare Illinois/Indiana
SEIU Local 73
Sheet Metal Workers State Conference
Sierra Club Illinois
SMART Transportation Division
Southsiders Organized for Unity and Liberation
South Asian American Policy & Research
Institute
Springfield & Central Illinois Trades & Labor
Council
The People’s Lobby
The Women of Reform Judaism Midwest
District
United Congress of Community and Religious
Organizations
UFCW Local 881
Workers Center for Racial Justice

Interested in signing on to support Automatic Voter Registration? Do you want to join the coalition? Fill out the form below and a member of the steering committee will reach out with more information.