SB 1863 and HB 2238

Last Thursday, June 18, 2020, Governor J. B. Pritzker signed into law SB 1863 and HB 2238 which will change the way the November 3, 2020 will be held.

Governor Pritzker stated, “Sending vote by mail applications to residents who have participated in recent elections will allow more people to exercise that right from the safety of their own homes and help reduce the spread of COVID-19 in our communities”.

Anyone in Illinois who cast a ballot from November 2018 or later, or who registered to vote or changed addresses after the March 2020 primary, will be sent an application to vote by mail.

Individuals who changed their name, or who requested a mail-in-ballot since November 2018, even if they had not voted, will also be sent an application.

These applications will be mailed out by August 1. They will need to be filled out in order to receive mail-in-ballots. The first day those ballots will be able to be mailed out is September 24.

To improve the signature verification process, the legislation raises the standard for rejecting a VBM ballot. The election authority will be required to appoint a bipartisan panel of three judges to verify voters’ signature and the validity of the ballot. Currently, only a single election judge makes this determination.

The legislation permits the use of curb-side voting, in which voters can fill out the ballot outside of the polling place.

To learn more about the changes that will take place for the November election please contact our office at the number shown above. We will continue to update our website at http://www.danvillevotes.com