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The
report was conducted by Illinois Public Interest Research Group
and looks into how the AVR law has fared since being signed by
former Gov. Bruce Rauner in 2017.
The automatic voter registration process registers eligible
citizens to vote when they are interacting with any state
agencies unless they choose to opt out of the program.
Keegan Hollyer of PIRG wrote the report and explained the
increase in voter registration since the law went into effect.
"Registrations from Secretary of State offices increased by
about 111,000 on an annualized basis," Hollyer said. "That is
about a 37% increase."
Most of the applications – 59% – have come from voter
registration updates at Secretary of State offices.
Despite challenges over the past five years, Hollyer said the
process has still been a success.
"Despite those challenges, we think that the law was a success
and we are happy to see the progress we have made," Hollyer
said.
One of the main problems AVR has seen is with voter opt-outs,
the report showed.
"While our coalition had many implementation concerns, one of
the largest had to do with the fundamental design of opt-out
registration," Hollyer said in the report. "Making a voter
registration application opt-out means making it the path of
least resistance. That is, an eligible voter should not need to
take any additional steps to complete their voter registration
application."
The report also offered several ideas to further improve the
state's AVR process, including the one signature registration on
applications and a better implementation at Secretary of State
offices.
"The Office of the Secretary of State should foster an internal
culture that is favorable to voter registration and sees it as a
core service, rather than an add-on to its core services," the
report said. "Specifically, the Secretary of State should train
and develop a staff dedicated to improving voter registration
issues and processes."
From 2018 to 2021, 1.4 million new and updated registration
applications are estimated to have originated from Secretary of
State branches.
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