Illinois Needs To Authorize Online Voter Registration

Currently, the only way to register to vote in Illinois is to mail in a voter regisration form, fill out a form with a voter registrar, or to personally visit your election authority. This system should be updated to include online voter registration for four reasons.

First, online voter registration is more efficient. The current system requires a local election authority (usually county clerk) to employ people who must read a handwritten form. These forms can be filled out incorrectly or illegible. Your right to vote on election day will rely on a government bureaucrat interpreting your handwriting and not making a typo. Besides reducing errors and mistakes, it would also reduce waste and costs associated with voter registration by reducing the labor required of local election authorities.

Second, online voter registration would be easier and would increase voter participation. I have participated in many voter registration drives and it is already a widely held belief that a person can register online. Such a belief is, of course, wrong, and can lead potential voters into a fruitless and frustrated search into how to register. Furthermore, it is simply a convenience to the voting public.

Third, online voter registration will certainly not lead to mass voter fraud. Already, many states have implemented online voter registration successfully and without mass fraud, including Arizona, Washington, and Kansas. The most recent state to pass a law authorizing online voter registration is Indiana. That’s right, Indiana currently has a more technologically advanced system of voter registration then us.

Finally, online voter registration can be made safe and secure. Millions across Illinois bank and pay their taxes using the internet. Also, an Illinois resident can update their driver’s license and license plate information on the Secretary of State’s website. Online voter registration makes sense and should be available.

There is an organized push currently underway in Wisconsin to implement online voter registration. They have produced an excellent video which lays out in more detail the reasons for online voter registration. Hopefully Illinois will also get a concentrated effort to make this common-sense service available to the Illinois public.