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1
HOUSE RESOLUTION

 
2    WHEREAS, The right to vote is a fundamental right that
3shall not be infringed; and
 
4    WHEREAS, This right has not always been freely and equally
5applied to all persons, and the history of this nation is awash
6in efforts to suppress voting rights on the basis of race,
7ethnicity, age, and economic status; and
 
8    WHEREAS, These efforts were renewed with particular
9virulence following the 2008 Presidential Election; and
 
10    WHEREAS, 25 states have implemented restrictions on free
11and equal access to voting since 2010, including the five
12states with the highest voter turnout rates in 2008; and
 
13    WHEREAS, 13 states have attempted to eliminate Election Day
14Registration, limit voter registration drives, and reduce
15opportunities for voters to register to vote; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Requiring voters to present a photo
17identification to cast a ballot disproportionately
18disenfranchises people who may not be able to afford time off
19from work to obtain such an ID in time to vote, work jobs with
20unconventional hours, are homeless, or are otherwise unable to

 

 

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1access such identification; and
 
2    WHEREAS, Laws that strike voters from the rolls solely on
3the basis of non-participation disproportionately
4disenfranchise elder and less mobile voters, servicepersons,
5and others, essentially infringing voters' rights as
6punishment for their choice not to vote; and
 
7    WHEREAS, Closing polling places on college campuses and
8imposing restrictions on students seeking to exercise their
9right goes against the public policy of Illinois to foster the
10civic responsibility of each generation; and
 
11    WHEREAS, State and federal courts have routinely rejected
12laws attempting to limit early voting, student voting, and
13other suppressive tactics on the basis that they
14unconstitutionally infringed the right to vote; and
 
15    WHEREAS, Some states hide behind bureaucratic measures to
16limit voter registration; two examples are the Georgia
17Secretary of State refusing to process 53,000 voter
18registration applications, of which 70% were from African
19American voters and 80% of all the refused applications were
20from people of color, and North Dakota refusing to accept IDs
21from Native American or Indigenous voters; and
 

 

 

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1    WHEREAS, On the assumption that those voters moved,
2Wisconsin is attempting to remove over 200,000 registered
3voters on the basis that some had not responded to a recent
4mailing from the Wisconsin Elections Commission, and the
5December court order to remove roughly 234,000 voters is
6currently on hold pending an appeal with the Wisconsin Court of
7Appeals; and
 
8    WHEREAS, Florida directly rebuffed the will of their own
9people by cutting back on the 2018 voter-approved restoration
10of voting rights to ex-felons; and
 
11    WHEREAS, Our Midwestern neighbors, including Missouri,
12Wisconsin, Indiana, Kansas, Iowa and Ohio, have limited the
13early voting and voting by mail options, cut polling place
14hours, and instituted photo ID requirements or requiring proof
15of citizenship to cast a ballot; and
 
16    WHEREAS, Voter suppression silences communities, groups,
17and persons and allows those in power to ignore their voices in
18the public arena; and
 
19    WHEREAS, 2.3 million Illinois voters ratified an amendment
20to the State Constitution in 2014 rejecting these
21discriminatory voter suppression tactics; therefore, be it
 

 

 

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1    RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE ONE
2HUNDRED FIRST GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
3we condemn voter suppression efforts and support all efforts to
4protect the free exercise of the right to vote.