FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Rose Colacino, State Co-coordinator
[email protected], 773-343-9849
Indivisible Illinois Applauds New Illinois Election Reforms That Include Many of Its Priorities
While voter suppression bills abound in other parts of the country, the General Assembly expands the right to vote across Illinois
CHICAGO, Illinois (June, 2, 2021) – Indivisible Illinois is proud to announce that, thanks to over a year of Indivisible’s hard lobbying with state legislators in Springfield, several of its top priorities for voting reform have just been passed by the Illinois General Assembly.
Indivisible Illinois has been working on voter security, voting rights, and voter reform since 2016, when it was discovered that Illinois’ voter registration clearinghouse had been hacked. By 2019, they were in the forefront of pushing for robust ballot audits. In 2020, it began its push for vote-by-mail, drop boxes, curbside voting, and other similar measures.
“We’ve worked long and hard on getting some of these reforms passed,” says Rosemarie Colacino, Indivisible Illinois’ lead since 2018 on voting rights and voter security. “To see them pass the General Assembly yesterday was just incredible. It’s a win for every voter in Illinois.”
Among other measures, SB825, if signed by Gov. Pritzker, creates a permanent vote-by-mail list (no more asking for a ballot every election), and permanently authorizes ballot drop boxes and curbside voting. It also provides for polling stations at certain jails, a measure for which Indivisible Chicago-South Side had been fighting for several years.
“All the hours of work put in by our volunteers, all the constant emails with legislators, particularly State Sen. Julie Morrison—it’s all been worth it to make voting safer and more secure and easier for every voter,” says Colacino.
Indivisible Illinois is part of the locally-led, people-powered Indivisible Project network, a grassroots American movement founded in 2016, with thousands of chapters in urban, suburban and rural areas, with at least two groups in every congressional district. Indivisible Illinois engages and empowers people in the Land of Lincoln, the Home of Obama, the Heart of the Midwest, to promote a progressive agenda, elect progressive leaders and realize progressive government.
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