Rock Island, Illinois | By Ericnotderek, RockIslandIllinois, CC BY 3.0, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/RockIslandIllinois.jpeg
Rock Island, Illinois | By Ericnotderek, RockIslandIllinois, CC BY 3.0, https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/e/e1/RockIslandIllinois.jpeg
Mercer, Henderson and Rock Island counties are three of 24 Illinois counties that a transparency group has cited in a notice-of-violation letter accusing the state of not fulfilling its obligations to maintain accurate voter registration records.
According to Judicial Watch, the counties have more registered voters than voting-age adults. In its notice-of-violation letter to Illinois, Judicial Watch claimed strong circumstantial evidence of improper voter registration records based on its comparison of data from the Election Assistance Commission and the U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey.
Illinois is among 11 states to which the groups sent letters. According to the National Voter Registration and Help America Vote acts, states must have a program to ensure the accuracy of their eligible voter lists, including removing any deceased or relocated voters, as well as those who have been convicted of a disqualifying crime. States are also required to ensure that their lists do not include non-citizens.
“Dirty election rolls can mean dirty elections,” Judicial Watch President Tom Fitton said. “These 11 states face possible Judicial Watch lawsuits unless they follow the law and take reasonable steps to clean up their voting rolls of dead, moved, and non-citizen voters.”
Judicial Watch declared its intent to file a lawsuit against the 11 states if they do not provide documentation showing they have addressed the issue within 90 days.