TAKE ACTION for Illinois' UOCAVA Voters: Ensuring Accessibility of Vote by Mail for Voters with Print Disabilities, Military Families and Citizens Living Overseas
Are you a service member, military spouse, veteran, federal worker or civilian who's both living abroad and normally vote in Illinois? If so, this is a take-action advocacy item specifically for you.
The Democrats Abroad Veterans and Military Families (VMF) Caucus has been closely following the progress of State Sen. Julie Morrison's (D-29th state senate district) SB 282 in the Illinois legislature, a bill to allow for electronic ballot return (a.k.a. "EBR" - not to be confused with "electronic voting" which implies pressing a voting machine touchscreen) of Illinois voters with a print/vision disability.
However, there is also an amendment prepared which would expand EBR to all Illinois absentee voters. As we all know, if something like this were to be signed into law by Governor Pritzker, it would be a huge win for all Illinois' UOCAVA voters.
The Illinois legislature will adjourn after May 31st, so time is of the essence. Standalone bills are no longer going forward, so there's now serious discussion of passing an omnibus bill with a possibility of including SB 282, with the amendment mentioned above, in the forthcoming omnibus bill.
Illinoisans need to apply pressure to all Illinois' state senators to include both the bill and amendment. This is where VMF comes in.
We have a prepared template below for you to copy and paste to send to your state senator. Unsure who that is? Click here to input your Illinois home address to view who represents you in the state Senate. Please feel free to modify the letter to your liking. If you receive a response from your state senator's office which indicates a support/oppose position, please forward that to: [email protected].
Dear Senator [Your State Senator's Last Name],
Voting remains far too challenging for many Illinois voters, especially for military service families, citizens living overseas, and people with disabilities. The logistics of returning an absentee ballot by mail are inherently cumbersome while voting from abroad or when frequently relocating to new duty stations domestically.
If included in the omnibus election law package, SB 282, SCA 1, would allow eligible Illinois servicemembers, their families, Illinois overseas voters, and voters with disabilities who need accommodations to securely submit their absentee ballot electronically.
Electronic ballot return is already in use in a majority of states, including Indiana, Missouri, Kansas and West Virginia. A total of 32 states plus the District of Columbia permit some or all military and overseas voters to return a ballot electronically, often by email or fax. Of those, 13 states expanded eligibility to voters with disabilities in order to make absentee voting fully accessible for all voters.
To give voters with print disabilities an opportunity to vote that is truly equal to voters without disabilities, and eliminate the voting problems faced by military families and citizens living overseas, it is critical that the language of SB 282, SCA 1 is included in the omnibus elections reform bill.
Thank you for considering my perspective. It would be wonderful to receive your response stating your support for this pro-voting effort, or, I would be appreciative of hearing why you would oppose this effort to make life easier for Illinois absentee voters like myself. With the state's legislative session coming to an end soon, I am happy to continue this discussion over a call with you and/or your staff if you need to reach me.
Your constituent,
[Your Name]
(IL absentee voter who's currently abroad)
(IL absentee voter who's currently abroad)