Bill Text: IL HB0996 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Election Code. Provides that, before the 2024 general primary election, each election authority shall designate at least one telephone number that can be used by a person with a disability, a person with an infant, or a person who is age 80 or older to call and request that voting assistance be provided in the polling place's parking lot or parking spaces (in-vehicle assisted voting) and that can also be used by any person to report an individual who is acting in an intimidating or unlawful manner inside or outside of the polling place. Provides that the election authority may also designate a SMS text message number that may be used for the same purposes. Includes provisions relating to posting of the telephone number and SMS text message number at each polling place and on a voter registration card. Provides that, before the 2024 general primary election, each election authority must establish procedures for in-vehicle assisted voting on election day. Includes details on implementation of the in-vehicle assisted voting. Provides that the State Board of Elections may adopt rules to implement the provisions, and provides that the State Board of Elections shall create an affidavit for use by persons using in-vehicle assisted voting. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 3-0)

Status: (Failed) 2025-01-07 - Session Sine Die [HB0996 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2023-HB0996-Introduced.html

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103RD GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2023 and 2024 HB0996 Introduced , by Rep. Sue Scherer SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
10 ILCS 5/1A-65
10 ILCS 5/17-11 from Ch. 46, par. 17-11
10 ILCS 5/17-13.6 new
10 ILCS 5/17-17 from Ch. 46, par. 17-17
10 ILCS 5/18-5 from Ch. 46, par. 18-5
10 ILCS 5/18-5.2 new
Amends the Election Code. Provides that, before the 2024 general primary election, each election authority shall designate at least one telephone number that can be used by a person with a disability, a person with an infant, or a person who is age 80 or older to call and request that voting assistance be provided in the polling place's parking lot or parking spaces (in-vehicle assisted voting) and that can also be used by any person to report an individual who is acting in an intimidating or unlawful manner inside or outside of the polling place. Provides that the election authority may also designate a SMS text message number that may be used for the same purposes. Includes provisions relating to posting of the telephone number and SMS text message number at each polling place and on a voter registration card. Provides that, before the 2024 general primary election, each election authority must establish procedures for in-vehicle assisted voting on election day. Includes details on implementation of the in-vehicle assisted voting. Provides that the State Board of Elections may adopt rules to implement the provisions, and provides that the State Board of Elections shall create an affidavit for use by persons using in-vehicle assisted voting. Makes other changes. Effective immediately.
LRB103 03531 AWJ 48537 b
A BILL FOR
HB0996 LRB103 03531 AWJ 48537 b
AN ACT concerning elections.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing
Sections 1A-65, 17-11, 17-17, and 18-5 and by adding Sections
17-13.6 and 18-5.2 as follows:
(10 ILCS 5/1A-65)
Sec. 1A-65. Election authority guidance. 90 days before
any election, the State Board of Elections shall provide
written guidance to election authorities on: (1) ballot
tracking procedures and the proper terminology to be used as
part of those procedures; and (2) summarizing requirements for
voting, curbside voting, in-vehicle assisted voting, early
voting, and vote by mail.
(Source: P.A. 102-15, eff. 6-17-21.)
(10 ILCS 5/17-11) (from Ch. 46, par. 17-11)
Sec. 17-11. On receipt of his ballot the voter shall
forthwith, and without leaving the inclosed space, retire
alone, or accompanied by children as provided in Section 17-8,
to one of the voting booths so provided and shall prepare his
ballot by making in the appropriate margin or place a cross (X)
opposite the name of the candidate of his choice for each

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office to be filled, or by writing in the name of the candidate
of his choice in a blank space on said ticket, making a cross
(X) opposite thereto; and in case of a question submitted to
the vote of the people, by making in the appropriate margin or
place a cross (X) against the answer he desires to give. A
cross (X) in the square in front of the bracket enclosing the
names of a team of candidates for Governor and Lieutenant
Governor counts as one vote for each of such candidates.
Before leaving the voting booth the voter shall fold his
ballot in such manner as to conceal the marks thereon. He shall
then vote forthwith in the manner herein provided, except that
the number corresponding to the number of the voter on the poll
books shall not be indorsed on the back of his ballot. He shall
mark and deliver his ballot without undue delay, and shall
quit said inclosed space as soon as he has voted; except that
immediately after voting, the voter shall be instructed
whether the voting equipment, if used, accepted or rejected
the ballot or identified the ballot as under-voted for a
statewide constitutional office. A voter whose ballot is
identified as under-voted may return to the voting booth and
complete the voting of that ballot. A voter whose ballot is not
accepted by the voting equipment may, upon surrendering the
ballot, request and vote another ballot. The voter's
surrendered ballot shall be initialed by the election judge
and handled as provided in the appropriate Article governing
that voting equipment.

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No voter shall be allowed to occupy a voting booth already
occupied by another, nor remain within said inclosed space
more than ten minutes, nor to occupy a voting booth more than
five minutes in case all of said voting booths are in use and
other voters waiting to occupy the same. No voter not an
election officer, shall, after having voted, be allowed to
re-enter said inclosed space during said election. No person
shall take or remove any ballot from the polling place before
the close of the poll. No voter shall vote or offer to vote any
ballot except such as he has received from the judges of
election in charge of the ballots. Any voter who shall, by
accident or mistake, spoil his ballot, may, on returning said
spoiled ballot, receive another in place thereof only after
the word "spoiled" has been written in ink diagonally across
the entire face of the ballot returned by the voter.
Where voting machines, or electronic voting systems,
curbside voting, or in-vehicle assisted voting are used, the
provisions of this section may be modified as required or
authorized by Article 24, 24A, 24B, or 24C or by Section
17-13.5 or 17-13.6, whichever is applicable, except that the
requirements of this Section that (i) the voter must be
notified of the voting equipment's acceptance or rejection of
the voter's ballot or identification of an under-vote for a
statewide constitutional office and (ii) the voter shall have
the opportunity to correct an under-vote or surrender the
ballot that was not accepted and vote another ballot shall not

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be modified.
(Source: P.A. 94-288, eff. 1-1-06; 95-699, eff. 11-9-07.)
(10 ILCS 5/17-13.6 new)
Sec. 17-13.6. Phone or text number for voting assistance;
in-vehicle assisted voting.
(a) As used in this Section:
"Designated phone number or SMS text message number" means
the number designated under subsection (b) by an election
authority for a person to contact for assistance described in
this Section.
"Person with a disability" means a person who suffers from
a physical or mental impairment that substantially limits one
or more major life activities.
"Person with an infant" means a person who has a child
under the age of one with them.
(b) Before the 2024 general primary election, each
election authority shall designate at least one telephone
number that can be used by a person with a disability, a person
with an infant, or a person who is age 80 or older to call and
request that voting assistance be provided in the polling
place's parking lot or parking spaces and that can also be used
by any person to report an individual who is acting in an
intimidating or unlawful manner inside or outside of the
polling place. The election authority may also designate a SMS
text message number that may be used for the same purposes. The

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election authority may use a designated phone number or SMS
text message number for a single polling place or a group of
polling places. The number or numbers designated must be
monitored at all times that the polling places served by the
number or numbers are open.
If the election authority uses a single number for all
polling places or for a group of polling places, the
designated phone number or SMS text message number must
connect to a person employed by or volunteering for the
election authority who can contact the judges of election at
the polling place where the individual is intending to vote.
If the election authority designates a specific telephone
number or SMS text message number for a single polling place,
the designated phone number or SMS text message number must
connect to one of the following persons at the designated
polling place: an election judge or employee of or volunteer
for the election authority.
(c) A notice shall be posted on each door of a polling
place that is to be used by members of the public to enter the
polling place stating the following in a substantially similar
format:
If you are in need of voter assistance at this polling place,
please contact (insert phone number and, if available, SMS
text message number). Assistance may be available for the
following purposes:
1. Voting in your vehicle if you are a person with a

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disability.
2. Voting in your vehicle if you are a person 80 years of age
or older.
3. Voting in your vehicle if you have a child under the age of
one with you.
4. Assistance with a person or persons who are acting in an
intimidating or unlawful manner inside or outside of the
polling place.
This notice may be combined with other polling place
notices by the election authority. If a polling place does not
have a designated parking lot or parking spaces, items 1, 2,
and 3 of the notice may be omitted from the notice.
If the election authority gives a registered voter a voter
registration card that lists the voter's polling place, the
voter assistance phone number and, if applicable, SMS text
message number must be listed on the card.
(d) Before the 2024 general primary election, each
election authority must establish procedures for persons with
a disability, persons 80 years of age or older, and persons
with an infant to cast a ballot at the polling place's parking
lot or parking spaces, if it has any, on election day. The
judges of election shall designate at least 2 judges of
election from opposite political parties per vehicle. The
judges of election shall present the person with an affidavit
for the person to affirm that the person is eligible for voting
assistance under this Section. Once the judges of election

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have verified that the affidavit has been completed and
signed, the person may be handed a paper ballot and marking
utensil. The individual shall have the opportunity to mark the
ballot without interference from the election judges.
Challengers and poll watchers allowed by law may be in the
vicinity of the judges of election and vehicles in the same
manner as otherwise allowed by law inside the polling place.
An election authority may designate parking spaces at the
polling place that must be used by a person to vote in the
person's vehicle. A person may only use a paper ballot to vote
under this subsection.
(e) If a person uses the designated phone number or SMS
text message number to report a person or persons acting in an
intimidating or unlawful manner inside or outside of the
polling place, the judge of election or employee or volunteer
of the election authority answering the call or text shall
determine if assistance can be provided and inform the person
calling or texting whether assistance can be provided.
(f) The State Board of Elections may adopt rules to
implement this Section. The State Board of Elections shall
create an affidavit or modify an existing affidavit to present
to persons asking to vote in the person's vehicle under this
Section.
(g) All affidavits completed and signed under this Section
shall be enclosed in a separate envelope securely sealed and
shall be transmitted with the returns of the elections to the

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election authority who shall preserve the affidavits for the
period of 6 months, during which period the affidavits are
public records and are freely open to examination.
(10 ILCS 5/17-17) (from Ch. 46, par. 17-17)
Sec. 17-17. After the opening of the polls no adjournment
shall be had nor shall any recess be taken, until all the votes
cast at such election have been counted and the result
publicly announced, except that when necessary one judge at a
time may leave the polling place for a reasonable time during
the casting of ballots, and except that when a polling place is
inaccessible to a voter with a disability, one team of 2 judges
of opposite party affiliation may leave the polling place to
deliver a ballot to such voter, as provided in Sections 7-47.1
and 17-13 of this Code. When a judge leaves and returns, such
judge shall sign a time sheet indicating the length of the
period such judge is absent from his duties. When absent, the
judge shall authorize someone of the same political party as
himself to act for him until he returns.
Where voting machines, or electronic voting systems,
curbside, voting, in-vehicle assisted voting is are used, the
provisions of this section may be modified as required or
authorized by Article 24 or Article 24A or by Section 17-13.5
or 17-13.6, whichever is applicable.
(Source: P.A. 99-143, eff. 7-27-15.)

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(10 ILCS 5/18-5) (from Ch. 46, par. 18-5)
Sec. 18-5. Any person desiring to vote and whose name is
found upon the register of voters by the person having charge
thereof, shall then be questioned by one of the judges as to
his nativity, his term of residence at present address,
precinct, State and United States, his age, whether
naturalized and if so the date of naturalization papers and
court from which secured, and he shall be asked to state his
residence when last previously registered and the date of the
election for which he then registered. The judges of elections
shall check each application for ballot against the list of
voters registered in that precinct to whom grace period, vote
by mail, and early ballots have been issued for that election,
which shall be provided by the election authority and which
list shall be available for inspection by pollwatchers. A
voter applying to vote in the precinct on election day whose
name appears on the list as having been issued a grace period,
vote by mail, or early ballot shall not be permitted to vote in
the precinct, except that a voter to whom a vote by mail ballot
was issued may vote in the precinct if the voter submits to the
election judges that vote by mail ballot for cancellation. If
the voter is unable to submit the vote by mail ballot, it shall
be sufficient for the voter to submit to the election judges
(i) a portion of the vote by mail ballot if the vote by mail
ballot was torn or mutilated or (ii) an affidavit executed
before the election judges specifying that (A) the voter never

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received a vote by mail ballot or (B) the voter completed and
returned a vote by mail ballot and was informed that the
election authority did not receive that vote by mail ballot.
If such person so registered shall be challenged as
disqualified, the party challenging shall assign his reasons
therefor, and thereupon one of the judges shall administer to
him an oath to answer questions, and if he shall take the oath
he shall then be questioned by the judge or judges touching
such cause of challenge, and touching any other cause of
disqualification. And he may also be questioned by the person
challenging him in regard to his qualifications and identity.
But if a majority of the judges are of the opinion that he is
the person so registered and a qualified voter, his vote shall
then be received accordingly. But if his vote be rejected by
such judges, such person may afterward produce and deliver an
affidavit to such judges, subscribed and sworn to by him
before one of the judges, in which it shall be stated how long
he has resided in such precinct, and state; that he is a
citizen of the United States, and is a duly qualified voter in
such precinct, and that he is the identical person so
registered. In addition to such an affidavit, the person so
challenged shall provide to the judges of election proof of
residence by producing 2 forms of identification showing the
person's current residence address, provided that such
identification may include a lease or contract for a residence
and not more than one piece of mail addressed to the person at

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his current residence address and postmarked not earlier than
30 days prior to the date of the election, or the person shall
procure a witness personally known to the judges of election,
and resident in the precinct (or district), or who shall be
proved by some legal voter of such precinct or district, known
to the judges to be such, who shall take the oath following,
viz:
I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I am a resident of
this election precinct (or district), and entitled to vote at
this election, and that I have been a resident of this State
for 30 days last past, and am well acquainted with the person
whose vote is now offered; that he is an actual and bona fide
resident of this election precinct (or district), and has
resided herein 30 days, and as I verily believe, in this State,
30 days next preceding this election.
The oath in each case may be administered by one of the
judges of election, or by any officer, resident in the
precinct or district, authorized by law to administer oaths.
Also supported by an affidavit by a registered voter residing
in such precinct, stating his own residence, and that he knows
such person; and that he does reside at the place mentioned and
has resided in such precinct and state for the length of time
as stated by such person, which shall be subscribed and sworn
to in the same way. For purposes of this Section, the
submission of a photo identification issued by a college or
university, accompanied by either (i) a copy of the

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applicant's contract or lease for a residence or (ii) one
piece of mail addressed to the person at his or her current
residence address and postmarked not earlier than 30 days
prior to the date of the election, shall be sufficient to
establish proof of residence. Whereupon the vote of such
person shall be received, and entered as other votes. But such
judges, having charge of such registers, shall state in their
respective books the facts in such case, and the affidavits,
so delivered to the judges, shall be preserved and returned to
the office of the commissioners of election. Blank affidavits
of the character aforesaid shall be sent out to the judges of
all the precincts, and the judges of election shall furnish
the same on demand and administer the oaths without criticism.
Such oaths, if administered by any other officer than such
judge of election, shall not be received. Whenever a proposal
for a constitutional amendment or for the calling of a
constitutional convention is to be voted upon at the election,
the separate blue ballot or ballots pertaining thereto shall
be placed on top of the other ballots to be voted at the
election in such manner that the legend appearing on the back
thereof, as prescribed in Section 16-6 of this Act, shall be
plainly visible to the voter, and in this fashion the ballots
shall be handed to the voter by the judge.
Immediately after voting, the voter shall be instructed
whether the voting equipment, if used, accepted or rejected
the ballot or identified the ballot as under-voted. A voter

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whose ballot is identified as under-voted for a statewide
constitutional office may return to the voting booth and
complete the voting of that ballot. A voter whose ballot is not
accepted by the voting equipment may, upon surrendering the
ballot, request and vote another ballot. The voter's
surrendered ballot shall be initialed by the election judge
and handled as provided in the appropriate Article governing
that voting equipment.
The voter shall, upon quitting the voting booth, deliver
to one of the judges of election all of the ballots, properly
folded, which he received. The judge of election to whom the
voter delivers his ballots shall not accept the same unless
all of the ballots given to the voter are returned by him. If a
voter delivers less than all of the ballots given to him, the
judge to whom the same are offered shall advise him in a voice
clearly audible to the other judges of election that the voter
must return the remainder of the ballots. The statement of the
judge to the voter shall clearly express the fact that the
voter is not required to vote such remaining ballots but that
whether or not he votes them he must fold and deliver them to
the judge. In making such statement the judge of election
shall not indicate by word, gesture or intonation of voice
that the unreturned ballots shall be voted in any particular
manner. No new voter shall be permitted to enter the voting
booth of a voter who has failed to deliver the total number of
ballots received by him until such voter has returned to the

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voting booth pursuant to the judge's request and again quit
the booth with all of the ballots required to be returned by
him. Upon receipt of all such ballots the judges of election
shall enter the name of the voter, and his number, as above
provided in this Section, and the judge to whom the ballots are
delivered shall immediately put the ballots into the ballot
box. If any voter who has failed to deliver all the ballots
received by him refuses to return to the voting booth after
being advised by the judge of election as herein provided, the
judge shall inform the other judges of such refusal, and
thereupon the ballot or ballots returned to the judge shall be
deposited in the ballot box, the voter shall be permitted to
depart from the polling place, and a new voter shall be
permitted to enter the voting booth.
The judge of election who receives the ballot or ballots
from the voter shall announce the residence and name of such
voter in a loud voice. The judge shall put the ballot or
ballots received from the voter into the ballot box in the
presence of the voter and the judges of election, and in plain
view of the public. The judges having charge of such registers
shall then, in a column prepared thereon, in the same line of,
the name of the voter, mark "Voted" or the letter "V".
No judge of election shall accept from any voter less than
the full number of ballots received by such voter without
first advising the voter in the manner above provided of the
necessity of returning all of the ballots, nor shall any such

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judge advise such voter in a manner contrary to that which is
herein permitted, or in any other manner violate the
provisions of this Section; provided, that the acceptance by a
judge of election of less than the full number of ballots
delivered to a voter who refuses to return to the voting booth
after being properly advised by such judge shall not be a
violation of this Section.
When curbside voting or in-vehicle assisted voting is used
at a polling place, the provisions of this Section may be
modified as required by the procedures established under
Section 17-13.5 or 17-13.6, as applicable.
(Source: P.A. 98-1171, eff. 6-1-15.)
(10 ILCS 5/18-5.2 new)
Sec. 18-5.2. Curbside voting and in-vehicle assisted
voting. The provisions of Section 17-13.5 or 17-13.6, as
applicable, are also applicable to the conduct of elections
under this Article.
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.