103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2023 and 2024
SB1503

 

Introduced 2/7/2023, by Sen. Terri Bryant

 

SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
 
10 ILCS 5/21-1  from Ch. 46, par. 21-1

    Amends the Election Code. Provides that electors of President and Vice President of the United States shall be chosen by congressional district. Provides that 2 electors at large shall cast their ballot for the Presidential and Vice Presidential candidate that received the highest number of votes in the State.


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A BILL FOR

 

SB1503LRB103 30553 BMS 56987 b

1    AN ACT concerning elections.
 
2    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
3represented in the General Assembly:
 
4    Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing
5Section 21-1 as follows:
 
6    (10 ILCS 5/21-1)  (from Ch. 46, par. 21-1)
7    Sec. 21-1. Choosing and election of electors of President
8and Vice-President of the United States shall be in the
9following manner:
10    (a) In each year in which a President and Vice-President
11of the United States are chosen, each political party or group
12in this State shall choose by its State Convention or State
13central committee one elector electors of President and
14Vice-President of the United States from each congressional
15district and such State Convention or State central committee
16of such party or group shall also choose 2 electors at large,
17if any are to be appointed for this State and such State
18Convention or State central committee of such party or group
19shall by its chair and secretary certify the total list of such
20electors together with electors at large so chosen to the
21State Board of Elections.
22    The filing of such certificate with the Board, of such
23choosing of electors shall be deemed and taken to be the

 

 

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1choosing and selection of the electors for the individual
2congressional districts of this State, if such party or group
3is successful at the polls in the individual congressional
4district as herein provided in choosing their candidates for
5President and Vice-President of the United States.
6    (b) The names of the candidates of the several political
7parties or groups for electors of President and Vice-President
8shall not be printed on the official ballot to be voted in the
9election to be held on the day in this Act above named. In lieu
10of the names of the candidates for such electors of President
11and Vice-President, immediately under the appellation of party
12name of a party or group in the column of its candidates on the
13official ballot, to be voted at said election first above
14named in subsection (1) of Section 2A-1.2 and Section 2A-2,
15there shall be printed within a bracket the name of the
16candidate for President and the name of the candidate for
17Vice-President of such party or group with a square to the left
18of such bracket. Each voter in this State from the several
19lists or sets of electors so chosen and selected by the said
20respective political parties or groups, may choose and elect
21an elector one of such lists or sets of electors by placing a
22cross in the square to the left of the bracket aforesaid of one
23of such parties or groups. Placing a cross within the square
24before the bracket enclosing the names of President and
25Vice-President shall not be deemed and taken as a direct vote
26for such candidates for President and Vice-President, or

 

 

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1either of them, but shall only be deemed and taken to be a vote
2for the elector entire list or set of electors chosen by that
3political party or group for that congressional district so
4certified to the State Board of Elections as herein provided.
5Voting by means of placing a cross in the appropriate place
6preceding the appellation or title of the particular political
7party or group, shall not be deemed or taken as a direct vote
8for the candidates for President and Vice-President, or either
9of them, but instead to the Presidential vote, as a vote for
10the elector entire list or set of electors chosen by that
11political party or group so certified to the State Board of
12Elections as herein provided.
13    (c) Such certification by the respective political parties
14or groups in this State of electors of President and
15Vice-President shall be made to the State Board of Elections
16within 2 days after such State convention or meeting of the
17State central committee in which the electors were chosen.
18    (d) Should more than one certificate of choice and
19selection of electors of the same political party or group be
20filed by contesting conventions or contesting groups, it shall
21be the duty of the State Board of Elections within 10 days
22after the adjournment of the last of such conventions to meet
23and determine which set of nominees for electors of such party
24or group was chosen and selected by the authorized convention
25of such party or group. The Board, after notice to the chair
26and secretaries or managers of the conventions or groups and

 

 

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1after a hearing shall determine which elector set of electors
2was so chosen for each congressional district by the
3authorized convention and shall so announce and publish the
4fact, and such decision shall be final and the set of electors
5so determined upon by the electoral board to be so chosen shall
6be the list or set of electors to be deemed elected if that
7party shall be successful at the polls in each congressional
8district, as herein provided.
9    (e) Should a vacancy occur in the choice of an elector in a
10congressional district, such vacancy may be filled by the
11executive committee of the party or group for such
12congressional district, to be certified by such committee to
13the State Board of Elections. Should a vacancy occur in the
14office of elector at large, such vacancy shall be filled by the
15State committee of such political party or group, and
16certified by it to the State Board of Elections.
17    (f) Each congressional district presidential elector shall
18cast his or her ballot for the Presidential and Vice
19Presidential candidate who received the highest number of
20votes in his or her congressional district. Each elector at
21large shall cast his or her ballot for the Presidential and
22Vice Presidential candidate who received the highest number of
23votes in the State.
24(Source: P.A. 99-522, eff. 6-30-16; 100-1027, eff. 1-1-19.)