Sangamon Sun

Another error in the state's Automatic Voter Registration program has led state representatives to call for an audit and a suspension of the entire system.

State representatives Avery Bourne and Tim Butler are requesting a suspension of the system and a thorough audit after what they say is another "programming error" that shows 1,100 valid voters were not registered but considered to be opting-out of voting, according to Butler's website.

Rep. Butler in statement about the issue indicated citizens of legal voting age are now not being registered.

“It started with non-citizens being registered, then minors being forwarded through the system, and now actual citizens of legal voting age not being registered. How much more evidence do we need that AVR has to be put on hold and a thorough audit conducted?” Butler said.

“These exact concerns were expressed back in 2017 during the discussions of instituting an AVR program in our state, and these revelations underscore that those concerns were well-founded. With the primary election happening in a week and the presidential election in November, these egregious mistakes have to be corrected before AVR is allowed to continue.”

The first case happened in January when 574 non-citizens were registered to vote mistakenly. This forced Bourne, Butler, and House Republicans to request the suspension of the system.

Among the Republicans who have asked for actions to be taken is U.S. Congressman Rodney Davis. However, the Democratic-led General Assembly, together with the governor, has taken no action to deal with the AVR problem.

“It has been over a month since I first called for the suspension of the Automatic Voter Registration system. With the revelation of this latest error within Illinois’ AVR system, it’s past time for lawmakers to take definitive steps to protect the integrity of our elections,” Rep. Avery Bourne said.

“The wrongful rejection of 1,152 valid voter registrations is unacceptable, and the latest in a series of problems that warrant the temporary suspension of AVR until all issues are resolved. Access to fair and free elections is a fundamental right, and there should be zero margins for error. The rollout of AVR has been plagued with problems, and it’s time for the General Assembly to intervene.”