Bill Text: IL HB1131 | 2009-2010 | 96th General Assembly | Enrolled

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Bill Title: Amends the Election Code. Permits the spouse and dependents of an active-duty member of the U.S. armed forces to vote military absentee ballots. Permits return delivery of a military or overseas ballot (i) by mail, (ii) in person by a specified relative of the voter, or (iii) by a licensed motor carrier engaged in the delivery of property.

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Republican 6-1)

Status: (Passed) 2009-08-14 - Public Act . . . . . . . . . 96-0512 [HB1131 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2009-HB1131-Enrolled.html

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HB1131 Enrolled LRB096 09698 JAM 19859 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 20-2.3, 20-5, and 20-6 as follows:
(10 ILCS 5/20-2.3) (from Ch. 46, par. 20-2.3)
Sec. 20-2.3. Members of the Armed Forces and their spouses
and dependents. Any member of the United States Armed Forces
while on active duty, and his or her spouse and dependents,
otherwise qualified to vote, who expects in the course of his
or her duties to be absent from the county in which he or she
resides on the day of holding any election, in addition to any
other method of making application for an absentee ballot under
this Article, may make application for an absentee ballot to
the election authority having jurisdiction over his or her
precinct of residence by a facsimile machine or electronic
transmission not less than 10 days before the election.
Ballots under this Section shall be mailed by the election
authority in the manner prescribed by Section 20-5 of this
Article and not otherwise. Ballots voted under this Section
must be returned to the election authority before the closing
of the polls on the day of election and must be counted at the
election authority's central ballot counting location.

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(Source: P.A. 94-1000, eff. 7-3-06.)
(10 ILCS 5/20-5) (from Ch. 46, par. 20-5)
Sec. 20-5. The election authority shall fold the ballot or
ballots in the manner specified by the statute for folding
ballots prior to their deposit in the ballot box and shall
enclose such ballot in an envelope unsealed to be furnished by
it, which envelope shall bear upon the face thereof the name,
official title and post office address of the election
authority, and upon the other side of such envelope there shall
be printed a certification in substantially the following form:
"CERTIFICATION
I state that I am a resident/former resident of the .......
precinct of the city/village/township of ............,
(Designation to be made by Election Authority) or of the ....
ward in the city of ........... (Designation to be made by
Election Authority) residing at ................ in said
city/village/township in the county of ........... and State of
Illinois; that I am a
1. ( ) member of the United States Service
2. ( ) citizen of the United States temporarily residing
outside the territorial limits of the United States
3. ( ) nonresident civilian citizen
and desire to cast the enclosed ballot pursuant to Article 20
of The Election Code; that I am lawfully entitled to vote in
such precinct at the ........... election to be held on

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............
I further state that I marked the enclosed ballot in
secret.
Under penalties as provided by law pursuant to Article 29
of The Election Code, the undersigned certifies that the
statements set forth in this certification are true and
correct.
...............(Name)
.....................
(Service Address)"
.....................
.....................
.....................
If the ballot enclosed is to be voted at a primary
election, the certification shall designate the name of the
political party with which the voter is affiliated.
In addition to the above, the election authority shall
provide printed slips giving full instructions regarding the
manner of completing the forms and affidavits for absentee
registration or the manner of marking and returning the ballot
in order that the same may be counted, and shall furnish one of
the printed slips to each of the applicants at the same time
the registration materials or ballot is delivered to him.
In addition to the above, if a ballot to be provided to an
elector pursuant to this Section contains a public question
described in subsection (b) of Section 28-6 and the territory

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concerning which the question is to be submitted is not
described on the ballot due to the space limitations of such
ballot, the election authority shall provide a printed copy of
a notice of the public question, which shall include a
description of the territory in the manner required by Section
16-7. The notice shall be furnished to the elector at the same
time the ballot is delivered to the elector.
The envelope in which such registration or such ballot is
mailed to the voter as well as the envelope in which the
registration materials or the ballot is returned by the voter
shall have printed across the face thereof two parallel
horizontal red bars, each one-quarter inch wide, extending from
one side of the envelope to the other side, with an intervening
space of one-quarter inch, the top bar to be one and
one-quarter inches from the top of the envelope, and with the
words "Official Election Balloting Material-VIA AIR MAIL"
between the bars. In the upper right corner of such envelope in
a box, there shall be printed the words: "U.S. Postage Paid 42
USC 1973". All printing on the face of such envelopes shall be
in red, including an appropriate inscription or blank in the
upper left corner of return address of sender.
The envelope in which the ballot is returned to the
election authority may be delivered (i) by mail, postage paid,
(ii) in person, by the spouse, parent, child, brother, or
sister of the voter, or (iii) by a company engaged in the
business of making deliveries of property and licensed as a

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motor carrier of property by the Illinois Commerce Commission
under the Illinois Commercial Transportation Law.
(Source: P.A. 84-1467.)
(10 ILCS 5/20-6) (from Ch. 46, par. 20-6)
Sec. 20-6. Such absent voter shall make and subscribe to
the certifications provided for in the application and on the
return envelope for the ballot, and such ballot or ballots
shall then be folded by such voter in the manner required to be
folded before depositing the same in the ballot box, and be
deposited in such envelope and the envelope securely sealed.
The envelope in which the ballot is returned to the election
authority may be delivered (i) by mail, postage paid, (ii) in
person, by the spouse, parent, child, brother, or sister of the
voter, or (iii) by a company engaged in the business of making
deliveries of property and licensed as a motor carrier of
property by the Illinois Commerce Commission under the Illinois
Commercial Transportation Law. Such envelope shall be mailed by
such voter, to the officer issuing the ballot or, if more
convenient, it may be delivered in person.
(Source: P.A. 81-155.)