Responsive Gov’s Grade TL;DR

During this past session, the Illinois General Assembly passed an omnibus election reform bill that expands opportunities to register and vote in the state. However, it missed another opportunity to improve its automatic voter registration system. Therefore, Illinois received a B on this year’s progress report.

Looking Back

Where Illinois Started at the Beginning of 2023

• Automatic Voter Registration: Partial AVR
• Online Voter Registration: DMV ID
• Same-Day Registration: Yes
• Restoration of Rights: Prison Disenfranchisement
• Vote by Mail: No-Excuse
• Electronic Registration Information Center Member: Yes
• Early Voting Opportunities: Regular Ballot Early Voting
• ID Requirements: No Document Required

Relying on the Cost of Voting Index for Illinois as of 2022, we considered the state a top tier state for pre-existing voting policy and compared its 2023 activity against other top tier states.

How Our Tier Compares

• COVI (2022): 9th
• EPI Score (2020): 23rd
• CLC State Scorecard (2022): 10/10
• MAP Democracy Rating (2022): MEDIUM

2023: This Past Year

Legislative Action

The Assembly made several pro-voter improvements to the election code. But, yet again, the Legislature failed to move forward legislation that would have updated the existing automatic voter registration system to make it more secure, efficient, and effective at registering voters.

• S 2123 requires large jurisdictions (populations over 500,000) to set up at least 2 vote centers where any voter in the jurisdiction can vote, requires all vote centers to offer curbside voting, allows 16 year olds to preregister to vote, and establishes Election Day as a holiday, among other things.