News Item: The Illinois House has approved an amended bill making election day November 3, 2020, a state holiday and expanding voting by mail. The bill also includes a variety of safety measures for in-person voting. The bill now goes back to the Illinois Senate for a vote. Some key details, which only apply to the 2020 general election:

• Requires county election officials to mail or email vote-by-mail ballot applications by Aug. 1 to any voter who cast a ballot in 2018, 2019 or 2020, as well as voters who registered or changed addresses after the March primary.
• Requires the secretary of state to send a notice by Sept. 15 to people who received an application to vote by mail but have not yet returned it.
• Allows local election authorities to add curbside voting, so that voters can drive up, be handed a ballot and fill it out in their cars.
• Makes Nov. 3, 2020 a state holiday to be observed by state offices and schools.
• Allows citizens as young as 16 to be able to be election judges. Students — in both high school and college — will be notified of their eligibility to be a judge, as would people who are unemployed.
• ·Allows election authorities to add secure mail ballot drop locations in addition to using the postal service.

For more information, see https://www.capitolnewsillinois.com/NEWS/illinois-house-advances-major-expansion-of-mail-in-voting

Note: The date for this Action Item has passed. See later postings for an update on this topic.

​The Illinois League of Women Voters (LWVIL) has asked that people contact their Illinois state legislators, by Tuesday May 19 or Wednesday May 20 am, to ask them to support Vote-By-Mail (VBM). An Action Item email from LWVIL Board President Allyson Haut and co-chairs of the Issues and Advocacy team said: 
 
"The Illinois General Assembly must negotiate a budget before the end of May. We know there will be serious cuts, but we also know that some increases are essential to ensure full participation in the November election and to meet basic needs of populations which have been hardest hit by the pandemic." 

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Below is a script you can use when contacting your state representative and state senator. They recommended that people email rather than call because this would be more effective in the current situation. The goal is to contact representatives before the special legislative session starts tomorrow. It will run May 20-22.

Suggested Script to use when calling or emailing legislators
I am calling Senator___ (or Representative _____) to request that s/he support sending a ballot to all registered voters in Illinois.  Voters should not have to choose between keeping themselves healthy or casting a ballot.  Funding should be included in the budget for all local election authorities to handle the increased response to vote by mail. 
 <your name> 
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Representatives for Champaign County are Representative Carol Ammons, IL House 103, Email: Assistance@StateRepCarolAmmons.com; 
Representative Mike Marron, IL House 104, mike@repmikemarron.com; 
Senator Scott Bennett, IL-52, IL-52, Web: www.senatorbennett.com/contact-us; Senator Chapin Rose, IL-51, Web: www.senchapinrose.com/contact
More information about contacting legislators is at:  Contacting Your Representatives.
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Champaign Mayor Deborah Feinen (center) and Urbana Mayor Diane Marlin (right) signed a proclamation declaring Feb. 14, 2020 League of Women Voters Day. The mayors read the joint proclamation aloud at the Urbana Free Library on Tuesday, March 3, the evening of the Book Group discussion of “The Woman’s Hour.”

LEAGUE OF WOMEN VOTERS DAY in the cities of Urbana and Champaign and celebrates its vision of a democracy where every person has the desire, the right, the knowledge, and the confidence to participate.

The Woman’s Hour: The Great Fight to Win the Vote by Elaine Weiss was the second book selected for our League’s ongoing Book Club series. More than twenty people came to the Urbana Free Library on March 3rd to discuss the book, including one of our fifty-year members, Lizie Goldwasser, who turned one hundred in March. Carol Inskeep, UFL adult services librarian, and Teresa Barnes, UIUC professor of Gender and Women Studies and Director of the Center of African Studies, led the discussion.

The story of how America’s women won the right to vote by convincing a narrow majority of Tennessee legislators to vote for the 19th amendment is a fascinating read. Weiss tells the story of the divisions within the suffrage movement itself which was tainted by racism and the story of the Antis who worked equally hard to make sure women did not get the vote.

Plans are to hold the next Book Club discussion in September, 2020. The selection will be Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein. Watch this site for details.