Will County Clerk Nancy Schultz Voots continues to press state legislators for more time to implement a new law requiring all county clerks to provide Election Day registration in all precincts by the March 2016 election. She has provided them with a cost study, detailing that it would cost Will County more than $1.3 million to buy electronic equipment, implement the technology and train election judges to provide registration in all 303 precincts. “They should have done a cost study before implementing the law,” she said after presenting her figures to the county board’s finance committee Tuesday.
Election Day registration was offered on a trial basis in the November 2014 election at five sites, and 730 voters took advantage of it, Voots said. Even though she wants to increase voter turnout, she said the number of voters registering does not justify the expense.
Her main concern is the “integrity” of the election, she said. The only way to insure that is to buy electronic poll books to verify the voter registration – at a cost of nearly $1 million.
In a letter to state Rep. Larry Walsh Jr., D-Elwood, Voots urged him to amend the law. She said she is willing to expand the number of precincts that offer Election Day registration, but she is not prepared financially nor physically to provide it in all 303 precincts. Not all polling places have the necessary technology in place, she said.
Full Article: Will county clerk: amend voter registration law – Daily Southtown.