Prairie State Wire

Ahead of the Nov. 5 election, signs posted at Cook County DMV offices, courtesy of Illinois Secretary of State Alexi Giannoulias' office, alerted driver’s license applicants that voter registration information was available in multiple languages. 

“Voter Registration information available in Chinese, Hindi, Polish, Spanish, and Urdu. If you need voter registration information in Chinese, Hindi, Polish, Spanish, or Urdu, please advise the clerk,” the sign reads, followed by Giannoulias' signature. 

However, according to the U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services Naturalization Interview and Test to be a citizen, one must learn English. 

"During the English test, you must demonstrate an understanding of the English language including the ability to read, write, and speak basic English," the Immigration Services website reads. 

Questions are now being raised about the potential for non-citizens, including undocumented residents, to unknowingly become registered to vote under Illinois’ automatic voter registration (AVR) system. 

In Illinois, non-citizens are prohibited from voting in both state and federal elections, and it is a felony for undocumented individuals to register or cast a ballot. 

Yet, a controversial programming glitch in the state’s AVR system in 2020 led to hundreds of non-citizens mistakenly being registered, with 16 reportedly voting in the 2018 election. 

Although the Secretary of State's office, then under the oversight of Jesse White, worked to remove these individuals from the voter rolls, the incident prompted calls for stronger safeguards and accountability, raising questions about election integrity.

State lawmakers passed a law earlier this year, HB 3882, which allows undocumented residents to obtain standard four-year driver’s licenses and identification cards, replacing the previously issued Temporary Visitor’s Driver’s License.

To qualify, applicants must pass a driving test, have valid car insurance, and provide proof of residency for at least one year, though the new licenses bear the phrase "Federal Limits Apply" to prevent non-citizens from voting. 

“Since it is a felony to register to vote or vote in federal elections, if they find that that registration was not legal then those people can be removed from the rolls immediately,” Illinois Conservative Union Chairman Carol Davis told Advantage News. “They can use these laws to remove them [non citizens] from the rolls." 

Earlier this year the Center Square raised the issue of illegal immigrants being automatically registered to vote when receiving state driver’s licenses. 

Illinois Senate bill 496 expanded the state's AVR system to include applicants for both standard driver's licenses and REAL IDs, while ensuring that non-citizens are not automatically registered. 

The bill introduced a "backend" process, where individuals would need to actively opt out of voter registration after being automatically signed up, which some lawmakers argue could raise constitutional concerns regarding the right to opt-out. 

However, some argued that immigrants may not fully understand the opt-out process, and they raise concerns that non-citizens could unknowingly violate federal law by registering to vote. 

“People who don’t speak English often do not understand that they have to 'opt-out.' They are not informed that it is against federal law for non-citizens to register to vote and/or to vote,” Davis told Center Square. “Every time someone touches a federal agency in any way they are getting a voter registration form shoved in their face.” 

There have been cases where illegal aliens in Illinois who were registered to vote when obtaining driver’s licenses were deported for the act. 

Notably, earlier this year State Rep. Dan Caulkins (R-Macon) sponsored a bill aimed at penalizing illegal aliens who register to vote or outside entities who register illegal aliens to vote. 

"If people are being registered to vote and are not citizens and they end up voting or someone nefariously gets their ballot and votes for the non-citizen, it cancels out [Americans'] votes,” Caulkins told Advantage News.

Illinois has a long and sordid history with voter fraud and issues with voter registration extend beyond non-citizens. 

A CBS Chicago investigation in 2016 uncovered that at least 119 deceased individuals had been recorded as voting 229 times in Chicago, triggering alarms over the maintenance of voter rolls. 

The repeated problems with voter registration accuracy have fueled ongoing debates about the effectiveness of Illinois’ AVR system and the risk of fraud.

“I make a little stupid joke about the Democrats in Springfield proposing legislation that would make fences around cemeteries illegal because it's hard to register people to vote,” Caulkins told Prairie State Wire.