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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, Recently, the public has become aware of serious
3issues with the implementation of the Automatic Voter
4Registration System (AVR) in Illinois, as the Secretary of
5State confirmed that from July 2, 2018 through December 13,
62019 the AVR system allowed for 574 self-identified, non-United
7States citizens to have voter registration information sent to
8the State Board of Elections; and
 
9    WHEREAS, Those individuals were added to the State's voter
10rolls; it was later determined by the State Board of Elections
11that at least 15 of those 574 individuals voted in the 2018
12general election, and at least one of those 15 was a
13non-citizen who voted in Champaign County; and
 
14    WHEREAS, The Secretary of State's office has confirmed that
15they forwarded voter registration information for over 4,700
1616-year-olds to the State Board of Elections who then forwarded
17such information to local election authorities, even though an
18Illinois resident is required to be 18-years-old to vote unless
19that individual is 17-years-old for a primary election for
20which they will be 18-years-old by the general election; and
 
21    WHEREAS, The Secretary of State's office has confirmed
22that, as a "quality control" measure, they are no longer

 

 

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1forwarding AVR applications to the State Board of Elections on
2Saturdays and Sundays, which is a change from previous policy;
3and
 
4    WHEREAS, Illinois' AVR statute requires the Department of
5Natural Resources, the Department of Human Services, the
6Department of Employment Security, and the Department of
7Financial and Professional Regulation to also participate in
8automatic voter registration, and, to this date, only two of
9those four agencies are complying with State law; and
 
10    WHEREAS, The current Auditor General has an ongoing case
11before the State Board of Elections regarding his use of
12campaign funds from his account as State Representative; this
13case resulted in the State Board of Elections fining his
14campaign fund $5000, a situation which involved investigations
15by both the State Board of Elections and the federal government
16in regards to repeated campaign law violations and a situation
17which calls into question whether the Auditor General can carry
18out a truly independent audit involving the State Board of
19Elections; therefore, be it
 
20    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
21HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
22the Illinois State Board of Elections is directed to arrange
23and have conducted a performance audit of the Illinois

 

 

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1Automatic Voter Registration System and its processes by an
2outside, independent auditor; and be it further
 
3    RESOLVED, That the audit include, but not be limited to,
4the following determinations:
5        (1) Whether the Office of the Secretary of State or the
6    State Board of Elections knew non-citizens were entered
7    into the Automatic Voter Registration System, and when they
8    knew it;
9        (2) Whether the Office of the Secretary of State or the
10    State Board of Elections knew non-citizens voted in a 2018
11    or 2019 election, and when they knew it;
12        (3) The process, time frame, and coordination of data
13    sharing between the Secretary of State, the State Board of
14    Elections, the Department of Human Services, the
15    Department of Employment Security, the Department of
16    Natural Resources, and the Department of Financial and
17    Professional Regulation;
18        (4) The process, time frame, and coordination of voter
19    registration and data sharing between the State Board of
20    Elections and local election authorities;
21        (5) Why the Department of Natural Resources and the
22    Department of Human Services have an automatic voter
23    registration system which is different than the Secretary
24    of State's system;
25        (6) Why the Department of Employment Security and the

 

 

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1    Department of Financial and Professional Regulation have
2    not yet implemented the Automatic Voter Registration
3    System and a timeframe for its completion;
4        (7) Why the Secretary of State made the decision to
5    continue administering the Automatic Voter Registration
6    system after discovering non-citizens were entered into
7    the system; and
8        (8) Whether the Secretary of State has completed an
9    internal audit on the Automatic Voter Registration System,
10    and what they have done to fix the system that allowed
11    non-citizens to complete the Automatic Voter Registration
12    process; and be it further
 
13    RESOLVED, That we call upon the State of Illinois and its
14operating units, including, but not limited to, the Secretary
15of State and the State Board of Elections, to immediately
16suspend the Automatic Voter Registration system; and be it
17further
 
18    RESOLVED, That the Secretary of State, the Department of
19Human Services, the Department of Employment Security, the
20Department of Natural Resources, the Department of Financial
21and Professional Regulation, and any other State agency or
22other entity having information relevant to this audit shall
23cooperate fully and promptly in the conduct of this audit; and
24be it further
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, That the State Board of Elections shall commence
2this audit as soon as possible and report their findings and
3recommendations upon completion to the Governor and each of the
4four leaders of the General Assembly; and be it further
 
5    RESOLVED, That for the purpose of this resolution, the
6conclusion of this audit shall not be deemed to have taken
7place until the Legislative Audit Commission has reviewed the
8findings of this audit in a public meeting, and the General
9Assembly has been accorded adequate time on its legislative
10calendar to take any actions that may be reasonably deemed
11necessary or desirable to implement any recommendations made by
12the audit and to remedy any problems or dysfunctions uncovered
13by the audit; and be it further
 
14    RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution shall be
15delivered to Governor JB Pritzker, Secretary of State Jesse
16White, State Board of Elections Chairman Chuck Scholz,
17Department of Human Services Secretary Grace B. Hou, Department
18of Employment Security Director Gustavo Giraldo, Department of
19Natural Resources Director Colleen Callahan, Department of
20Financial and Professional Regulation Secretary Deborah Hagan,
21Auditor General Frank J. Mautino, and Legislative Audit
22Commission Executive Director Jane Stricklin.