{"id":270,"date":"2024-03-06T11:32:39","date_gmt":"2024-03-06T17:32:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/illinois\/articles\/fair-and-safe-voter-list-access\/"},"modified":"2024-03-06T11:32:39","modified_gmt":"2024-03-06T17:32:39","slug":"fair-and-safe-voter-list-access","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/www.commoncause.org\/illinois\/articles\/fair-and-safe-voter-list-access\/","title":{"rendered":"Fair and Safe Voter List Access"},"template":"","class_list":["post-270","article","type-article","status-publish","hentry","article_type-blog-post"],"acf":{"details":{"summary":"Testimony given by Common Cause Illinois to the State Legislature","featured_image":null,"article_type":155,"authors":null,"related_issues":[109,412],"related_work":false,"location":null},"sidebar":{"helper_enable_sidebar":false,"helper_media_contact":{"heading":"Media Contact","manually_enter_person":false,"person":null,"name":"","role":"","phone":"","email":""},"helper_links_downloads":{"heading":"Links & Downloads","links":null}},"page_layout":[{"acf_fc_layout":"layout_wysiwyg","_acfe_flexible_toggle":null,"component_wysiwyg":{"content":"

WRITTEN TESTIMONY OF MARY STONOR SAUNDERS,<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0COMMON CAUSE ILLINOIS<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

ON HB4668: FAIR AND SAFE VOTER LIST ACCESS<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\u00a0<\/span>\r\n

Before the Ethics and Elections Committee<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Hearing Date<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

March 5, 2024<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nMy name is Mary Stonor Saunders, and I work on policy and outreach for Common Cause Illinois, the state chapter of a national nonpartisan pro-democracy organization with more than 1.5 million members and supporters. Over the years, Common Cause Illinois has worked tirelessly with our partners in the Just Democracy Illinois coalition to expand voter access across this state by championing reforms ranging from automatic voter registration to same day registration to the expansion of early voting and vote by mail. In addition, we provide a robust Election Protection program to ensure that our elections are fair and secure and that every eligible voter who wants to vote, can vote.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nToday I am here in support of HB4668, part of Just Democracy\u2019s official policy platform, which will ensure the protection of sensitive, personal information of Illinois voters and expand public access to Illinois voter registration data for election purposes as required by federal law.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nAs recent lawsuits brought against the Illinois State Board of Elections have made clear, the question is not IF we provide the public with access to voter registration data, but HOW.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n\r\nThe two lawsuits (<\/span>Illinois Conservative Union v. Illinois State Board of Elections<\/span><\/i> and <\/span>Public Interest Legal Foundation v. Bernadette Matthews)<\/span><\/i> have created an urgent need to revise the Illinois Election Code (10 ILCS 5\/1A-25) to\u202f<\/span>\u00a0<\/span>\r\n