Voting by mail is expanding in the state this Fall. Senate Bill 1863 passed on a party line vote on Friday 37-19 after more than an hour of debate on the floor. Local State Senator Steve McClure said the new voting program allowed for more fraud, citing the recent failures at the Secretary of State’s offices signing up ineligible voters and recent ballot harvesting scandals in Nevada and Pennsylvania.
McClure says the new law allows for multiple votes from the same person.
The bill allows curbside voting, drive up voting, and makes election day a state holiday on November 3rd this year only. County Election officials are required to send vote-by-mail ballots to everyone in their county who has cast a ballot since 2018 by August 1st.
A parent bill, House bill 2238, passed early on Friday, that requires the Illinois State Board of Elections to take extra precautions on ballot tallying and access to ballots as they are returned to local election authorities.
Governor J.B. Pritzker is expected to sign the bill by the end of the month after voicing support of the measures during his daily COVID-19 press briefing early last week.