As early voting for the March primary is set to begin on Feb. 6, questions still abound regarding how voter registration cards ended up being sent to hundreds of non-citizens in Illinois.
Illinois House Republicans are questioning the Secretary of State's office as to why more than 500 non-citizens were the recipients of voter registration cards over the last 18 months. According to information from the Secretary of State’s office, at least 574 non-citizens ended up being registered to vote by the state's voter registration program.
A spokesman for the Secretary of State explained that the error did not allow undocumented immigrants to register, but did include those with green cards, and that they were not eligible to vote. The problem was estimated to have caused less than one percent of more than 740,000 new voters that registered with the automatic voter registration program conducted through driver services facilities.
The Secretary of State's office stated that the automatic voter registration program began in 2017 and helps voters register when they conduct business with a state agency. It is not a mandatory program.
Several GOP lawmakers are worried about the possibility of fraud occurring through the flawed automatic registration system and want an investigation started immediately.
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