ROCK ISLAND, Illinois — Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has said that he will sign a mail-in voting expansion into law ahead of the November general election. The Illinois state House and Senate passed the bill last week in a party-line vote over Republican concerns about funding and possible voting fraud.
The bill requires county election officials to send applications by mail or email this August to voters who registered in 2018, 2019 or 2020. The Rock Island County Clerk's office says it will need to send nearly 90,000 applications.
"I don't think it's a partisan issue at the local level," said Rock Island County Board member and county GOP chairman Drue Mielke. "I'm 100 percent on board, I just have questions, as I said, of funding. Making sure that there isn't any voter fraud."
The threat of voter fraud has become a partisan lighting rod at the national level. President Trump weighed in Tuesday morning in a tweet: "There is NO WAY (ZERO!) that Mail-in Ballots will be anything less than substantially fraudulent."
"Well then, I say he's accusing himself, because he has already voted by mail," said Rock Island County Board member and Democratic Precinct Committee member Kai Swanson. "You can look at the number of allegations of mass voter fraud, and then you can look at the documented cases and they're almost nil. So, it's a specter."
The bill also allows local election authorities to offer curbside voting this November.