Bill Text: IL HB5104 | 2021-2022 | 102nd General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: Amends the Election Code. Provides that collection sites for vote by mail ballots shall be established only on the grounds of a public building where normal business of a unit of local government is conducted and the building does not have a residential component. Provides that those collection sites shall be recorded by security cameras, and the recordings shall be retained by the election authority for a period of 90-days after each election. Amends the Freedom of Information Act to provide that those recordings are public records subject to inspection and copying by the public during that 90-day period. Effective immediately.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 2-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2022-02-18 - Rule 19(a) / Re-referred to Rules Committee [HB5104 Detail]

Download: Illinois-2021-HB5104-Introduced.html

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102ND GENERAL ASSEMBLY State of Illinois 2021 and 2022 HB5104 Introduced , by Rep. Ryan Spain SYNOPSIS AS INTRODUCED:
5 ILCS 140/2.25 new
10 ILCS 5/19-6 from Ch. 46, par. 19-6
Amends the Election Code. Provides that collection sites for vote by mail ballots shall be established only on the grounds of a public building where normal business of a unit of local government is conducted and the building does not have a residential component. Provides that those collection sites shall be recorded by security cameras, and the recordings shall be retained by the election authority for a period of 90-days after each election. Amends the Freedom of Information Act to provide that those recordings are public records subject to inspection and copying by the public during that 90-day period. Effective immediately.
LRB102 25180 AWJ 34444 b
A BILL FOR
HB5104 LRB102 25180 AWJ 34444 b
AN ACT concerning elections.
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
represented in the General Assembly:
Section 5. The Freedom of Information Act is amended by
adding Section 2.25 as follows:
(5 ILCS 140/2.25 new)
Sec. 2.25. Ballot box recordings. Recordings of collection
sites for vote by mail ballots are public records subject to
inspection and copying by the public as provided in Section
19-6 of the Election Code.
Section 10. The Election Code is amended by changing
Section 19-6 as follows:
(10 ILCS 5/19-6) (from Ch. 46, par. 19-6)
Sec. 19-6. Such vote by mail 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 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 voter shall then endorse his certificate
upon the back of the envelope and the envelope shall be mailed

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in person by such voter, postage prepaid, to the election
authority issuing the ballot or, if more convenient, it may be
delivered in person, by either the voter or by any person
authorized by the voter, or by a company licensed as a motor
carrier of property by the Illinois Commerce Commission under
the Illinois Commercial Transportation Law, which is engaged
in the business of making deliveries.
Election authorities shall accept any vote by mail ballot
returned, including ballots returned with insufficient or no
postage. Election authorities may maintain one or more secure
collection sites for the postage-free return of vote by mail
ballots. Any election authority with collection sites shall
collect all ballots returned each day and process them as
required by this Code, including noting the day on which the
ballot was collected. Ballots returned to such collection
sites after close of business shall be dated as delivered the
next day, with the exception of ballots delivered on election
day, which shall be dated as received on election day.
Election authorities shall permit electors to return vote by
mail ballots at any collection site it has established through
the close of polls on election day. Collection sites shall be
established only on the grounds of a public building where
normal business of a unit of local government is conducted and
the building does not have a residential component. All
collection sites shall be secured by locks that may be opened
only by election authority personnel. All collection sites

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shall be recorded by security cameras. The recordings shall be
retained by the election authority for 90 days after each
election and shall be available for inspection and copying
under the Freedom of Information Act during that 90-day
period. The State Board of Elections shall establish
additional guidelines for the security of collection sites.
It shall be unlawful for any person not the voter or a
person authorized by the voter to take the ballot and ballot
envelope of a voter for deposit into the mail unless the ballot
has been issued pursuant to application by a physically
incapacitated elector under Section 3-3 or a hospitalized
voter under Section 19-13, in which case any employee or
person under the direction of the facility in which the
elector or voter is located may deposit the ballot and ballot
envelope into the mail. If the voter authorized a person to
deliver the ballot to the election authority, the voter and
the person authorized to deliver the ballot shall complete the
authorization printed on the exterior envelope supplied by an
election authority for the return of the vote by mail ballot.
The exterior of the envelope supplied by an election authority
for the return of the vote by mail ballot shall include an
authorization in substantially the following form:
I ............ (voter) authorize ............... to take
the necessary steps to have this ballot delivered promptly to
the office of the election authority.

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....................... ........................
Date Signature of voter
...............................................
Printed Name of Authorized Delivery Agent
...............................................
Signature of Authorized Delivery Agency
...............................................
Date Delivered to the Election Authority
(Source: P.A. 102-1, eff. 4-2-21; 102-668, eff. 11-15-21.)
Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon
becoming law.