You Can Help Clean the Voter Rolls – Part 2

Written by Suzanne Rickman

If you read the article from a few months ago about how to remove yourself or a family member from the voter rolls, you learned that there is a form that makes self-removal pretty easy here in Illinois.

After reading that article you may have asked some obvious questions like these:

• Is my deceased neighbor, grandparent, or friend still registered to vote?
• Is my neighbor’s son who moved out of state 15 years ago still registered at his former Illinois address?
• How can I find out if these people are registered and get them removed?

As I stated in the previous article, there is a process. Things vary from county to county, and there is no single answer, but there are things “We the People” can do.

The key is to act at the local level!

In the state of Illinois, there are three main ways to find out if the deceased Mr. Jones from down the street has been removed from the voter rolls or not.

1.  Go to your clerk’s website. Find the link that allows you to check your voter registration. Enter the name and/or address of the desired person. This may or may not work, depending on your Election Authority’s website, but it’s worth a try.

2. Obtain data from the clerk’s office of your election authority (EA), which may include buying a certified copy of a record, or all records for an address. Different EAs will have different rules.

3. Contact a current elected official, candidate, or political group in the district you want to search and request a copy of the voter list or ask them to check on the person or people you know of who should not be on the list.

Option 1 may give you the answer to your question!  Option 2 is not so desirable. Option 3 may sound like too much work, but let’s take a closer look at this option, and dive a little deeper into what it means.

Elected Officials or Candidates

If an elected official or candidate is responsive to your request, you may be able to obtain voter information from him or her, as they have a legal right to that data.

We all know that at the state level, we all have representatives in the offices of Governor, State House Representative, State Senator, Attorney General, etc. At the County level, we all have a County Commissioner, Sheriff, Assessor, Clerk, etc.

At the very local level, we all know we all have a municipal board with a mayor, school boards, library boards, etc., right?

But something the average person on the street may not realize is that we all have a Committeeman, and your Committeeman is your pipeline to clean voter rolls.

What is a Committeeman?

Committeemen, (whether male or female) go by many names, such as Precinct Committeeman, Township Committeeman, Ward Committeeman, etc. The generic term is Precinct Committeeman or PC. PCs are elected by party affiliation for every precinct, township, or ward, depending on how your county or election authority labels the breakdown of their districts.

Every local region has a Republican committeeman, a Democrat committeeman, and possibly also a Libertarian committeeman, as well as any other party that might have representation in their area.

All committeemen have access to the voter rolls for their precinct and can serve a vital role in overseeing and maintaining accurate voter lists!

While other officials could also check the voter rolls, that is not their function. One of the express jobs of a committeemen is to MAINTAIN THE VOTER ROLLS!

PCs have a legal “seat at the table!” They:

• Can obtain the voter lists from their local party organization

• May legally inquire with local residents about registered voters in the residence

• May take signed affidavits from residents to their clerk to attempt to have ineligible voters removed from the voter list

• Can legitimately approach their local Election Authority to report voters who should be removed

• Should be building relationships with their neighbors and know their precinct

• May appoint people (captains) to assist them in oversight and maintenance of the voter rolls.

If every precinct had an assistant to their local committeeman who was in charge of their neighborhood, checking on every residence or noticing when voters are registered as living in abandoned buildings or vacant lots, and tracking data from their local funeral homes and nursing homes, it would be a relatively easy task!  Now that you are armed and educated with this information, here is what you can do:

Action Steps to Take

1. Find out who your party’s PC is and contact them. Let them know you want to get involved. Ask when meetings are held and start attending. Get involved in your party’s township, county, or organization. Volunteer as little or as much as you are able. Every extra person helps! If you need help finding your area party’s PC, a quick Google search should direct you. For Republicans, the Illinois GOP has a Director of Election Integrity – CJ Parker. You may contact him at cj@illinois.gop.

2. Run for the position of PC in your party. Note: they have primaries in even years, so it’s too late for 2024. Many of these positions are unfilled because no one ran for the office. If there are vacancies, your party’s County Chair may appoint a committeeman. Inquire about the appointment.

3. Become a precinct captain by asking to be appointed. You probably will not be turned away.

4. Inquire to your PC about voter roll maintenance. Many PCs are busy and get caught up to get-out-the-vote or other important issues but forget about voter list maintenance. Nudges and offers of help from their constituents may encourage them. Offer to be appointed as a captain of your precinct, or of a neighboring precinct with a vacancy.

5. Another great action step is to JOIN THE ILLINOIS ELECTION INTEGRITY PROGRAM (IEIP) – The IEIP is a statewide EI coalition, under the umbrella of the national Election Integrity Network (EIN). In over 30 states, the EIN has voter list maintenance groups that work together, collaborating on Voter List Maintenance (VLM). Weekly Zoom meetings for the national and statewide groups connect people from all different parts of the country and within their own states! The IEIP Statewide VLM Team is our most active working group and has teams in many counties working on cross-referencing software to clean the rolls. We are still in need of volunteers!

The task of keeping our elections free and fair may seem daunting.

Many fall into despair, not bothering because they feel it is pointless. To that, I say we must remember that hope is a virtue, and falling into despair a sin. Giving up because we feel defeated is exactly what the enemy wants!

Joining together to fight for that which is good and just is rewarding beyond measure! Benjamin Franklin is quoted as having stated that the Constitutional Convention gave us “a Republic…if we can keep it!” With God’s help and yours, we can!