Full Text of SB2240 98th General Assembly
SB2240 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY |
| | 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY
State of Illinois
2013 and 2014 SB2240 Introduced 2/15/2013, by Sen. John M. Sullivan SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED: |
| 10 ILCS 5/17-23 | from Ch. 46, par. 17-23 |
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Amends the Election Code. Provides that the State Board of Elections (now only local election authorities) can issue pollwatcher credentials. Effective immediately.
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| | A BILL FOR |
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| 1 | | AN ACT concerning elections.
| 2 | | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
| 3 | | represented in the General Assembly:
| 4 | | Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing Section | 5 | | 17-23 as follows:
| 6 | | (10 ILCS 5/17-23) (from Ch. 46, par. 17-23)
| 7 | | Sec. 17-23. Pollwatchers in a general election shall be | 8 | | authorized in
the following manner:
| 9 | | (1) Each established political party shall be entitled to | 10 | | appoint
two pollwatchers per precinct. Such pollwatchers must | 11 | | be affiliated
with the political party for which they are | 12 | | pollwatching. For all
elections, the pollwatchers must be
| 13 | | registered to vote in Illinois.
| 14 | | (2) Each candidate shall be entitled to appoint two | 15 | | pollwatchers per
precinct. For all elections, the pollwatchers | 16 | | must be
registered to vote
in Illinois.
| 17 | | (3) Each organization of citizens within the county or | 18 | | political
subdivision, which has among its purposes or | 19 | | interests the investigation
or prosecution of election frauds, | 20 | | and which shall have registered its
name and address and the | 21 | | name and addresses of its principal officers
with the proper | 22 | | election authority at least 40 days before the election,
shall | 23 | | be entitled to appoint one pollwatcher per precinct. For all
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| 1 | | elections, the pollwatcher must be registered to vote in
| 2 | | Illinois.
| 3 | | (3.5) Each State nonpartisan civic organization within the | 4 | | county or political subdivision shall be entitled to appoint | 5 | | one pollwatcher per precinct, provided that no more than 2 | 6 | | pollwatchers appointed by State nonpartisan civic | 7 | | organizations shall be present in a precinct polling place at | 8 | | the same time. Each organization shall have registered the | 9 | | names and addresses of its principal officers with the proper | 10 | | election authority at least 40 days before the election. The | 11 | | pollwatchers must be registered to vote in Illinois. For the | 12 | | purpose of this paragraph, a "State nonpartisan civic | 13 | | organization" means any corporation, unincorporated | 14 | | association, or organization that: | 15 | | (i) as part of its written articles of incorporation, | 16 | | bylaws, or charter or by separate written declaration, has | 17 | | among its stated purposes the provision of voter | 18 | | information and education, the protection of individual | 19 | | voters' rights, and the promotion of free and equal | 20 | | elections; | 21 | | (ii) is organized or primarily conducts its activities | 22 | | within the State of Illinois; and | 23 | | (iii) continuously maintains an office or business | 24 | | location within the State of Illinois, together with a | 25 | | current listed telephone number (a post office box number | 26 | | without a current listed telephone number is not |
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| 1 | | sufficient).
| 2 | | (4) In any general election held to elect candidates for | 3 | | the offices of
a municipality of less than 3,000,000 population | 4 | | that is situated in 2 or
more counties, a pollwatcher who is a | 5 | | resident of Illinois shall be eligible to serve as a
| 6 | | pollwatcher in any poll located within such
municipality, | 7 | | provided that such pollwatcher otherwise complies with the
| 8 | | respective requirements of subsections (1) through (3) of this | 9 | | Section and
is a registered voter in Illinois.
| 10 | | (5) Each organized group of proponents or opponents of a | 11 | | ballot
proposition, which shall have registered the name and | 12 | | address of its
organization or committee and the name and | 13 | | address of its chairman with the
proper election authority at | 14 | | least 40 days before the election, shall be
entitled to appoint | 15 | | one pollwatcher per precinct. The pollwatcher
must be
| 16 | | registered to vote in Illinois.
| 17 | | All pollwatchers shall be required to have proper | 18 | | credentials. Such
credentials shall be printed in sufficient | 19 | | quantities, shall be issued
by and under the facsimile | 20 | | signature(s) of the election authority or the State Board of | 21 | | Elections and
shall be available for distribution by the | 22 | | election authority and State Board of Elections at least 2 | 23 | | weeks prior to the
election. Such credentials shall be | 24 | | authorized by the real or facsimile
signature of the State or | 25 | | local party official or the candidate or the
presiding officer | 26 | | of the civic organization or the chairman of the
proponent or |
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| 1 | | opponent group, as the case may be. The election authority or | 2 | | the State Board of Elections may not require any such party | 3 | | official or the candidate or the presiding officer of the civic | 4 | | organization or the chairman of the proponent or opponent group | 5 | | to submit the names or other information concerning | 6 | | pollwatchers before making credentials available to such | 7 | | persons or organizations.
| 8 | | Pollwatcher credentials shall be in substantially the | 9 | | following form:
| 10 | | POLLWATCHER CREDENTIALS
| 11 | | TO THE JUDGES OF ELECTION:
| 12 | | In accordance with the provisions of the Election
Code, the | 13 | | undersigned hereby appoints .......... (name of pollwatcher)
| 14 | | who resides at ........... (address) in the county
of | 15 | | ..........., .......... (township or municipality)
of | 16 | | ........... (name), State of Illinois and who is duly | 17 | | registered
to vote from this address, to act as a pollwatcher | 18 | | in the
........... precinct of the ........... ward (if | 19 | | applicable)
of the ........... (township or municipality) of | 20 | | ........... at the
........... election to be held on (insert | 21 | | date).
| 22 | | ........................ (Signature of Appointing Authority)
| 23 | | ......................... TITLE (party official, candidate,
| 24 | | civic organization president,
| 25 | | proponent or opponent group chairman)
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| 1 | | Under penalties provided by law pursuant to Section 29-10 | 2 | | of the
Election Code, the undersigned pollwatcher certifies | 3 | | that he or she resides
at ................ (address) in the | 4 | | county of ............, .........
(township or municipality) | 5 | | of ........... (name), State of Illinois, and is
duly | 6 | | registered to vote in Illinois.
| 7 | | .......................... .......................
| 8 | | (Precinct and/or Ward in (Signature of Pollwatcher)
| 9 | | Which Pollwatcher Resides)
| 10 | | Pollwatchers must present their credentials to the Judges | 11 | | of Election
upon entering the polling place. Pollwatcher | 12 | | credentials properly
executed and signed shall be proof of the | 13 | | qualifications of the
pollwatcher authorized thereby. Such | 14 | | credentials are retained by the
Judges and returned to the | 15 | | Election Authority at the end of the day of
election with the | 16 | | other election materials. Once a pollwatcher has
surrendered a | 17 | | valid credential, he may leave and reenter the polling place
| 18 | | provided that such continuing action does not disrupt the | 19 | | conduct of the
election. Pollwatchers may be substituted during | 20 | | the course of the day, but
established political parties, | 21 | | candidates and qualified civic organizations
can have only as | 22 | | many pollwatchers at any given time as are authorized in
this | 23 | | Article. A substitute must present his signed credential to the
| 24 | | judges of election upon entering the polling place. Election |
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| 1 | | authorities
must provide a sufficient number of credentials to | 2 | | allow for substitution
of pollwatchers. After the polls have | 3 | | closed pollwatchers shall be allowed
to remain until the | 4 | | canvass of votes is completed; but may leave and
reenter only | 5 | | in cases of necessity, provided that such action is not so
| 6 | | continuous as to disrupt the canvass of votes.
| 7 | | Candidates seeking office in a district or municipality | 8 | | encompassing 2
or more counties shall be admitted to any and | 9 | | all polling places throughout
such district or municipality | 10 | | without regard to the counties in which such
candidates are | 11 | | registered to vote. Actions of such candidates shall be
| 12 | | governed in each polling place by the same privileges and | 13 | | limitations that
apply to pollwatchers as provided in this | 14 | | Section. Any such candidate who
engages in an activity in a | 15 | | polling place which could reasonably be
construed by a majority | 16 | | of the judges of election as campaign activity
shall be removed | 17 | | forthwith from such polling place.
| 18 | | Candidates seeking office in a district or municipality | 19 | | encompassing 2 or
more counties who desire to be admitted to | 20 | | polling places on election day
in such district or municipality | 21 | | shall be required to have proper
credentials. Such credentials | 22 | | shall be printed in sufficient quantities,
shall be issued by | 23 | | and under the facsimile signature of the
election authority of | 24 | | the election jurisdiction where the polling place in
which the | 25 | | candidate seeks admittance is located, and shall be available | 26 | | for
distribution at least 2 weeks prior to the election. Such |
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| 1 | | credentials shall
be signed by the candidate.
| 2 | | Candidate credentials shall be in substantially the | 3 | | following form:
| 4 | | CANDIDATE CREDENTIALS
| 5 | | TO THE JUDGES OF ELECTION:
| 6 | | In accordance with the provisions of the Election Code, I | 7 | | ...... (name of
candidate) hereby certify that I am a candidate | 8 | | for ....... (name of
office) and seek admittance to ....... | 9 | | precinct of the ....... ward (if
applicable) of the ....... | 10 | | (township or municipality) of ....... at the
....... election | 11 | | to be held on (insert date).
| 12 | | ......................... .......................
| 13 | | (Signature of Candidate) OFFICE FOR WHICH
| 14 | | CANDIDATE SEEKS
| 15 | | NOMINATION OR
| 16 | | ELECTION
| 17 | | Pollwatchers shall be permitted to observe all proceedings | 18 | | and view all reasonably requested records relating
to the | 19 | | conduct of the election, provided the secrecy of the ballot is | 20 | | not impinged, and to station themselves in a position
in the | 21 | | voting room as will enable them to observe the judges making | 22 | | the
signature comparison between the voter application and the | 23 | | voter
registration record card; provided, however, that such | 24 | | pollwatchers
shall not be permitted to station themselves in |
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| 1 | | such close proximity to
the judges of election so as to | 2 | | interfere with the orderly conduct of
the election and shall | 3 | | not, in any event, be permitted to handle
election materials. | 4 | | Pollwatchers may challenge for cause the voting
qualifications | 5 | | of a person offering to vote and may call to the
attention of | 6 | | the judges of election any incorrect procedure or apparent
| 7 | | violations of this Code.
| 8 | | If a majority of the judges of election determine that the | 9 | | polling
place has become too overcrowded with pollwatchers so | 10 | | as to interfere
with the orderly conduct of the election, the | 11 | | judges shall, by lot,
limit such pollwatchers to a reasonable | 12 | | number, except that each
established or new political party | 13 | | shall be permitted to have at least
one pollwatcher present.
| 14 | | Representatives of an election authority, with regard to an | 15 | | election
under its jurisdiction, the State Board of Elections, | 16 | | and law
enforcement agencies, including but not limited to a | 17 | | United States
Attorney, a State's attorney, the Attorney | 18 | | General, and a State, county,
or local police department, in | 19 | | the performance of their official
election duties, shall be | 20 | | permitted at all times to enter and remain in
the polling | 21 | | place. Upon entering the polling place, such
representatives | 22 | | shall display their official credentials or other
| 23 | | identification to the judges of election.
| 24 | | Uniformed police officers assigned to polling place duty | 25 | | shall follow
all lawful instructions of the judges of election.
| 26 | | The provisions of this Section shall also apply to |
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| 1 | | supervised casting of
absentee ballots as provided in Section | 2 | | 19-12.2 of this Act.
| 3 | | (Source: P.A. 94-645, eff. 8-22-05; 95-267, eff. 8-17-07; | 4 | | 95-699, eff. 11-9-07; 95-876, eff. 8-21-08.)
| 5 | | Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon | 6 | | becoming law.
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