Illinois Conservative Union Demands Voter Registration Records

Written by Jane Ryan Carrell

There’s exciting news for Illinois voters concerned about the integrity of our elections! A statewide organization, Illinois Conservative Union (ICU), has given notice to the state election authority that it must provide ICU a copy of the state voter rolls, or face a lawsuit.

ICU, an Illinois civic organization, contacted the Illinois State Board of Elections in July, requesting the Illinois voter list data file. The data file is required for analysis by the ICU Election Integrity Program to ensure that the state is conducting proper list maintenance as required by federal law. The Board of Elections denied the request.

ICU’s latest letter, delivered November 27th to the Board of Elections, bears the heading, “IL State Board of Elections Violates Law – Faces Citizen Legal Action.” If the state does not comply within the 90 day notice of violation period as specified by law, the lawsuit will commence just weeks before the March 17, 2020 primary election.

The State Board of Elections had refused to release state voter registration records to ICU, citing state law that the records could only be released to state-approved entities, including political parties and political action committees (PACs). However, federal statutes supersede state law, and the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA, or “Motor Voter” law) requires that state boards of election provide registration records to citizen groups wishing to verify the integrity of voter rolls.

“When crafting the NVRA, the intent of Congress was to enable the public to monitor the accuracy of our nation’s voter rolls,” said Carol Davis, Chairman, Illinois Conservative Union. “By denying citizens access to the rolls, state election authorities are thwarting the intent of this legislation. Illinois has long been the source of jokes, such as ‘dead people voting.’ Now is the time to verify the accuracy of Illinois voter rolls and put an end to our state’s embarrassing reputation regarding the integrity of our elections.”

The complete letter is available to view on the group’s website, ILPAC.org. A July 2019 column by Mark Hemingway, “Who Will Clean Up America’s Voter Rolls?”
points to some of the problems with voter rolls nationwide. Hemingway cites “a 2012 Pew study that found that 24 million voter registrations in the United States, about one out of every eight, are ‘no longer valid or are significantly inaccurate.’”

In 2017, 24 Illinois counties were identified by Judicial Watch as having more registered voters than voting-age citizens. Illinois shared this dubious distinction with 10 other states having bloated voter rolls!

Who are those citizens who make up the invalid registrations? They are move-aways, deceased persons, snowbirds who now vote in a warmer climate, and persons ineligible to vote. The latter may have been registered automatically in an interaction with a state agency, like the Motor Vehicle Registration, Health and Human Services or other state agency.

Remember, the NVRA (“Motor Voter” law) authorized registration when citizens interact with state agencies. However, Illinois’ procedures do not exclude non-citizens from the automatic registration. Poor command of English may account for many instances of non-citizen registration.

Illinois Conservative Union (ICU) exists to build and maintain a coalition of conservative organizations and grassroots activists throughout the state of Illinois. The goal is to have a positive impact on the financial and moral trajectory of the state. When the state finally provides ICU the voter rolls, as it must, a process of verifying the accuracy of voter registrations will begin.

ICU will be tracking legislative proposals offered in the Illinois General Assembly amending election regulations. Sometimes a bill, which is offered for “election integrity” has the opposite effect, making elections less secure. Abraham Lincoln said, “Elections belong to the people.” It’s past time the people reclaimed the election process.

Jane Ryan Carrell is a longtime pro-lifer and conservative activist, who serves as Secretary to the Illinois Conservative Union Executive Committee. She has written several pieces describing systematic election fraud in the state of Wisconsin, before Voter Identification was enacted there.