Bill Text: IL SB2299 | 2023-2024 | 103rd General Assembly | Introduced
Bill Title: Amends the Election Code. Provides that election authorities may authorize service of objections to candidate nominations through electronic mail instead of personal service if the election authority responsible for convening the electoral board requires candidates to provide an electronic mail address where notices of objections and electoral board proceedings may be sent electronically instead of through personal service, requires objectors to provide an electronic mail address where notices and electoral board proceedings may be sent electronically instead of through personal service, and publishes notice of its decision to authorize service of objections to candidate nominations through electronic mail on its website within 5 business days after the effective date of the amendatory Act.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)
Status: (Introduced) 2023-03-31 - Rule 3-9(a) / Re-referred to Assignments [SB2299 Detail]
Download: Illinois-2023-SB2299-Introduced.html
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1 | AN ACT concerning elections.
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2 | Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
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3 | represented in the General Assembly:
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4 | Section 5. The Election Code is amended by changing | |||||||||||||||||||
5 | Section 10-10 as follows:
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6 | (10 ILCS 5/10-10) (from Ch. 46, par. 10-10)
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7 | Sec. 10-10. Within 24 hours after the receipt of the | |||||||||||||||||||
8 | certificate of
nomination or nomination papers or proposed | |||||||||||||||||||
9 | question of public
policy, as the case may be, and the | |||||||||||||||||||
10 | objector's petition, the chair
of the electoral board other | |||||||||||||||||||
11 | than the State Board of Elections shall
send a call by | |||||||||||||||||||
12 | registered or certified mail to each of the members of the
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13 | electoral board, and to the objector who filed the objector's | |||||||||||||||||||
14 | petition, and
either to the candidate whose certificate of | |||||||||||||||||||
15 | nomination or nomination
papers are objected to or to the | |||||||||||||||||||
16 | principal proponent or attorney for
proponents of a question | |||||||||||||||||||
17 | of public policy, as the case may be, whose
petitions are | |||||||||||||||||||
18 | objected to, and shall also cause the sheriff of the county
or | |||||||||||||||||||
19 | counties in which such officers and persons reside to serve a | |||||||||||||||||||
20 | copy of
such call upon each of such officers and persons, which | |||||||||||||||||||
21 | call shall set out
the fact that the electoral board is | |||||||||||||||||||
22 | required to meet to hear and pass upon
the objections to | |||||||||||||||||||
23 | nominations made for the office, designating it, and
shall |
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1 | state the day, hour and place at which the electoral board | ||||||
2 | shall meet
for the purpose, which place shall be in the
county | ||||||
3 | court house in the county in the case of the County Officers
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4 | Electoral Board, the Municipal Officers Electoral Board, the | ||||||
5 | Township
Officers Electoral Board or the Education Officers | ||||||
6 | Electoral Board, except that the Municipal Officers Electoral | ||||||
7 | Board, the Township Officers Electoral Board, and the | ||||||
8 | Education Officers Electoral Board may meet at the location | ||||||
9 | where the governing body of the municipality, township, or | ||||||
10 | community college district, respectively, holds its regularly | ||||||
11 | scheduled meetings, if that location is available; provided | ||||||
12 | that voter records may be removed from the offices of an | ||||||
13 | election authority only at the discretion and under the | ||||||
14 | supervision of the election authority.
In
those cases where | ||||||
15 | the State Board of Elections is the electoral board
designated | ||||||
16 | under Section 10-9, the chair of the State Board of Elections
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17 | shall, within 24 hours after the receipt of the certificate of | ||||||
18 | nomination
or nomination papers or petitions for a proposed | ||||||
19 | amendment to Article IV of
the Constitution or proposed | ||||||
20 | statewide question of public policy, send a
call by registered | ||||||
21 | or certified mail to the objector who files the
objector's | ||||||
22 | petition, and either to the candidate whose certificate of
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23 | nomination or nomination papers are objected to or to the | ||||||
24 | principal
proponent or attorney for proponents of the proposed | ||||||
25 | Constitutional
amendment or statewide question of public | ||||||
26 | policy and shall state the day,
hour, and place at which the |
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1 | electoral board shall meet for the purpose,
which place may be | ||||||
2 | in the Capitol Building or in the principal or permanent
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3 | branch office of the State Board. The day of the meeting shall | ||||||
4 | not be less
than 3 nor more than 5 days after the receipt of | ||||||
5 | the certificate of
nomination or nomination papers and the | ||||||
6 | objector's petition by the chair
of the electoral board. | ||||||
7 | Election authorities may authorize service of objections | ||||||
8 | to candidate nominations through electronic mail instead of | ||||||
9 | personal service if the election authority responsible for | ||||||
10 | convening the electoral board: | ||||||
11 | (1) requires candidates to provide an electronic mail | ||||||
12 | address where notices of objections and electoral board | ||||||
13 | proceedings may be sent electronically instead of through | ||||||
14 | personal service; | ||||||
15 | (2) requires objectors to provide an electronic mail | ||||||
16 | address where notices and electoral board proceedings may | ||||||
17 | be sent electronically instead of through personal | ||||||
18 | service; and | ||||||
19 | (3) publishes notice of its decision to authorize | ||||||
20 | service of objections to candidate nominations through | ||||||
21 | electronic mail on its website within 5 business days | ||||||
22 | after the effective date of this amendatory Act of the | ||||||
23 | 103rd General Assembly.
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24 | The electoral board shall have the power to administer | ||||||
25 | oaths and to
subpoena and examine witnesses and, at the | ||||||
26 | request of either party and only upon a vote by a majority of |
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1 | its members, may authorize the chair
to issue subpoenas | ||||||
2 | requiring the attendance of witnesses and
subpoenas duces | ||||||
3 | tecum requiring the production of such books, papers,
records | ||||||
4 | and documents as may be evidence of any matter under inquiry
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5 | before the electoral board, in the same manner as witnesses | ||||||
6 | are
subpoenaed in the Circuit Court.
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7 | Service of such subpoenas shall be made by any sheriff or | ||||||
8 | other
person in the same manner as in cases in such court and | ||||||
9 | the fees of such
sheriff shall be the same as is provided by | ||||||
10 | law, and shall be paid by
the objector or candidate who causes | ||||||
11 | the issuance of the subpoena. In
case any person so served | ||||||
12 | shall knowingly neglect or refuse to obey any
such subpoena, | ||||||
13 | or to testify, the electoral board shall at once file a
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14 | petition in the circuit court of the county in which such | ||||||
15 | hearing is to
be heard, or has been attempted to be heard, | ||||||
16 | setting forth the facts, of
such knowing refusal or neglect, | ||||||
17 | and accompanying the petition with a
copy of the citation and | ||||||
18 | the answer, if one has been filed, together
with a copy of the | ||||||
19 | subpoena and the return of service thereon, and shall
apply | ||||||
20 | for an order of court requiring such person to attend and | ||||||
21 | testify,
and forthwith produce books and papers, before the | ||||||
22 | electoral board. Any
circuit court of the state, excluding the | ||||||
23 | judge who is sitting on the electoral
board, upon such showing | ||||||
24 | shall order such person to appear and testify,
and to | ||||||
25 | forthwith produce such books and papers, before the electoral | ||||||
26 | board
at a place to be fixed by the court. If such person shall |
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1 | knowingly fail
or refuse to obey such order of the court | ||||||
2 | without lawful excuse, the court
shall punish him or her by | ||||||
3 | fine and imprisonment, as the nature of the case
may require | ||||||
4 | and may be lawful in cases of contempt of court.
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5 | The electoral board on the first day of its meeting shall | ||||||
6 | adopt rules
of procedure for the introduction of evidence and | ||||||
7 | the presentation of
arguments and may, in its discretion, | ||||||
8 | provide for the filing of briefs
by the parties to the | ||||||
9 | objection or by other interested persons.
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10 | In the event of a State Electoral Board hearing on | ||||||
11 | objections to a
petition for an amendment to Article IV of the | ||||||
12 | Constitution
pursuant to Section 3 of Article XIV of the | ||||||
13 | Constitution, or to a
petition for a question of public policy | ||||||
14 | to be submitted to the
voters of the entire State, the | ||||||
15 | certificates of the county clerks and boards
of election | ||||||
16 | commissioners showing the results of the random sample of
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17 | signatures on the petition shall be prima facie valid and | ||||||
18 | accurate, and
shall be presumed to establish the number of | ||||||
19 | valid and invalid
signatures on the petition sheets reviewed | ||||||
20 | in the random sample, as prescribed
in Section 28-11 and 28-12 | ||||||
21 | of this Code. Either party, however, may introduce
evidence at | ||||||
22 | such hearing to dispute the findings as to particular | ||||||
23 | signatures.
In addition to the foregoing, in the absence of | ||||||
24 | competent evidence presented
at such hearing by a party | ||||||
25 | substantially challenging the results of a random
sample, or | ||||||
26 | showing a different result obtained by an additional sample,
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1 | this certificate of a county clerk or board of election | ||||||
2 | commissioners shall
be presumed to establish the ratio of | ||||||
3 | valid to invalid signatures within
the particular election | ||||||
4 | jurisdiction.
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5 | The electoral board shall take up the question as to | ||||||
6 | whether or not
the certificate of nomination or nomination | ||||||
7 | papers or petitions are in
proper form, and whether or not they | ||||||
8 | were filed within the time and
under the conditions required | ||||||
9 | by law, and whether or not they are the
genuine certificate of | ||||||
10 | nomination or nomination papers or petitions
which they | ||||||
11 | purport to be, and whether or not in the case of the
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12 | certificate of nomination in question it represents accurately | ||||||
13 | the
decision of the caucus or convention issuing it, and in | ||||||
14 | general shall
decide whether or not the certificate of | ||||||
15 | nomination or nominating papers
or petitions on file are valid | ||||||
16 | or whether the objections thereto should
be sustained and the | ||||||
17 | decision of a majority of the electoral board shall
be final | ||||||
18 | subject to judicial review as provided in Section 10-10.1. The
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19 | electoral board must state its findings in writing and must | ||||||
20 | state in
writing which objections, if any, it has sustained. A | ||||||
21 | copy of the decision shall be served upon the parties to the | ||||||
22 | proceedings in open proceedings before the electoral board. If | ||||||
23 | a party does not appear for receipt of the decision, the | ||||||
24 | decision shall be deemed to have been served on the absent | ||||||
25 | party on the date when a copy of the decision is personally | ||||||
26 | delivered or on the date when a copy of the decision is |
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1 | deposited in the United States mail, in a sealed envelope or | ||||||
2 | package, with postage prepaid, addressed to each party | ||||||
3 | affected by the decision or to such party's attorney of | ||||||
4 | record, if any, at the address on record for such person in the | ||||||
5 | files of the electoral board.
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6 | Upon the expiration of the period within which a | ||||||
7 | proceeding for
judicial review must be commenced under Section | ||||||
8 | 10-10.1, the electoral
board shall, unless a proceeding for | ||||||
9 | judicial review has been commenced
within such period, | ||||||
10 | transmit, by registered or certified mail, a
certified copy of | ||||||
11 | its ruling, together with the original certificate of
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12 | nomination or nomination papers or petitions and the original | ||||||
13 | objector's
petition, to the officer or board with whom the | ||||||
14 | certificate of
nomination or nomination papers or petitions, | ||||||
15 | as objected to, were on
file, and such officer or board shall | ||||||
16 | abide by and comply with the
ruling so made to all intents and | ||||||
17 | purposes.
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18 | (Source: P.A. 99-78, eff. 7-20-15; 99-642, eff. 7-28-16; | ||||||
19 | 100-1027, eff. 1-1-19 .)
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