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The state is
seeking to overturn a ruling by U.S. District Court Judge Samuel
Der-Yeghiayan, which found that the law discriminates against
voters in less-populated counties.
The law, passed in late 2014 by the Democratic-led legislature
and signed into law in early 2015 by former Democratic Governor
Pat Quinn, allowed election day voter registration for the first
time, including at polling places.
But the section of the law regarding polling place registration
pertained only to counties with populations of 100,000 or more.
The conservative Liberty Justice Center, of Chicago, filed a
lawsuit in August, saying the law was discriminatory.
Der-Yeghiayan agreed, writing that the law provided an advantage
to urban voters over their rural counterparts.
The state of Illinois appealed the ruling last month, and in
their order issued Tuesday, a three-judge panel of the U.S.
Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit granted the state's
request to stay the order until the appeal was adjudicated,
court records show.
U.S. voters will go to the polls to choose a president,
Congressional representatives and other officials on Nov. 8. On
Tuesday, the appellate court ordered attorneys on both sides to
say by Thursday whether they would like the appeals process to
be sped up due to the proximity of the election.
(Reporting by Sharon Bernstein; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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