State lawmakers last week approved legislation giving Illinoisans the ability to register to vote online. But, in the annual rush to adjourn for the summer, members of the House and Senate left town without allocating any money to pay for the proposal. “It’s something that we’re going to have to figure out,” said Rupert Borgsmiller, director of the Illinois State Board of Elections. “We’ll have to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.” Under legislation now awaiting Gov. Pat Quinn’s signature, the state would establish a system for applicants to register to vote through the state Board of Elections website, using a driver’s license and the last four digits of a Social Security number.
The information would be shared and confirmed by the Illinois Secretary of State’s office so that a person’s signature can be transmitted to their home county.
Early estimates put the cost at about $1.5 million, with the bulk of that coming out of the board of elections budget. The Secretary of State’s office estimates the program will have a start-up cost of about $50,000.
Borgsmiller said his staff would first review what they can do without any money in an attempt to get the program up and running by a July 1, 2014, deadline. “We want to do this,” Borgsmiller said. “But we’ll just have to do what we can.”
Full Article: No funding for online voter registration.