December 2023
Our local Leagues are fresh off of another round of naturalization ceremonies and helping brand new citizens register to vote. Leagues were on hand at naturalization ceremonies at Cantigny in DuPage County, Parkland College in Champaign County, the Chicago Botanic Garden in Glencoe, and the Museum of Science and Industry in Chicago.
It is especially moving to register new citizens to vote at these events. One beaming new citizen said to me, "Today I am the most excited citizen in America!"
Thank you to all of our dedicated League members who are on hand to welcome new citizens to voting!
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Photos courtesy of LWV Champaign County | |
Becky Simon
President
League of Women Voters of Illinois
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Primary Election: Tuesday, March 19, 2024 | |
The 2024 election season is officially upon us! Please use this Primary Election calendar to alert your communities.
On the Ballot
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Federal: U.S. President, all U.S. House of Representatives members
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State: Some Illinois State Senators and all Illinois State Representatives
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Judicial: Illinois Supreme Court, Appellate Court, Circuit Court and Subcircuit Court judges
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Local: Some counties will hold elections for their county boards, clerks and water districts
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Delegates: Delegates to the national party convention for nominating the party's presidential candidate will be elected in the Primary
Voting News
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The first day to request a Vote By Mail ballot is today, December 20. Voters who have previously requested to be on the Permanent Vote By Mail list will receive an official ballot for each primary and general election without needing to request one. Learn more about Voting by Mail.
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17 year olds who will be 18 on or before the General Election on November 5, 2024 may register to vote right now, and are eligible to vote in the March 19 Primary. Please spread the word when holding registration drives in your communities!
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Effective January 1, 2024, 16 and 17 year olds are eligible to pre-register to vote in Illinois. Note that they must have an Illinois state I.D. or driver's license to pre-register, and must register online or at the DMV (no paper registration). The pre-registration will go into effect automatically when the voter reaches voting age.
Get more voter registration and election information:
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Information for Voter Service Volunteers | |
Voter Service Training Sessions
We'll be holding training sessions for voter service chairs (and all other interested members) in January. Please sign up for one or both! Sessions run between 90-120 minutes.
- Candidate Forum Training: Saturday, January 13 10:00 am
- Moderator Training: Saturday, January 20, 10:00 am
Candidate Filing
Candidate petitions have been filed and candidates will be notified of their ballot order soon. We hope you are making your lists and checking them twice of candidate names and contact information (particularly email addresses). Please send these to us at voterservice@lwvil.org for use in planning the Illinois Voter Guide.
Illinois Voter Guide
IllinoisVoterGuide.org is Illinois' premier, one-stop voter guide, containing nonpartisan, statewide candidate and voting information. Promote the guide to your community members and help them use it to make a plan to vote. Submit questions for your county-level candidates to us by January 11 and look for IVG candidate information to become available on February 16, 2024.
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GOTV for Teens Initiative
LWVIL Director of Issues & Advocacy Letina (Tina) Brady Pettis is launching a "Get Out The Vote for Teens" initiative with a coalition of nonprofit partners. The initiative will target 16- and 17-year-olds who become eligible to pre-register to vote on January 1, and 17- and 18-year-olds who are of voting age for the 2024 Primary and General Elections.
The initiative will kick off on January 17, 2024 at Simeon Career Academy (8147 S Vincennes Ave, Chicago) from 10:00 am to noon. If you would like to volunteer for the kickoff, or help get out the vote for teens in other schools and areas, please contact Tina at lbradypettis@lwvil.org.
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Cook County Voter Signature Update
Some Cook County voters may be receiving a request from the Cook County Clerk to update their voter registration signatures. The Clerk uses signatures to verify voters' identities when they vote in person or by mail. For voting by mail, voters must sign the return envelope; the Clerk first verifies the signature, then records that the ballot has been submitted and, finally, removes the ballot from the envelope and places it with the other ballots to be counted.
The Clerk is requesting signature updates to active voters whose signatures on file are 25 years or older, taking into account that signatures have possibly changed over the years. This move is designed to prevent ballots getting rejected because signatures don't match up.
Signature update requests will arrive from Cook County on the back of a white mail-in voter registration form. Recipients are asked to provide name, address, date of birth and—most importantly—a signature.
LWVIL and LWV of Cook County have confirmed that this is NOT an attempt to eliminate voters from the voter rolls! A failure to respond will not impact the voter's registration status; this is simply an attempt by the Clerk to process ballots efficiently and prevent ballots from going uncounted due to signature issues.
LWVIL Voter Service Resources
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The #1 request we have been hearing from local Leagues is for more training! The following series of trainings is open to all League members. | |
Celebrating a More Inclusive Future | |
LWVIL was honored to speak at a press conference held Saturday, December 16, to commemorate the 80th Anniversary of the Repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act.
The Chinese Exclusion Act was a U.S. law that severely limited all immigration from China for over 40 years, additionally excluding Chinese residents already settled in the country from U.S. citizenship.
Diversity, equity, and inclusion are core values of the League of Women Voters. Diversity, equity, and inclusion are central to the success of American democracy.
The event was hosted by the Chinese American Museum of Chicago and Chinese American Women in Action.
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Nancy Chen, Founding President of Chinese American Women in Action, speaks at the press conference | |
LWVIL President Becky Simon, Congressman Danny Davis, and LWVIL Director of Issues & Advocacy Tina Brady Pettis at the press conference | |
Illinois Task Force for Ranked Choice Voting | |
Congratulations to LWVIL Elections Issues Specialist Barb Laimins (of LWV Wheaton), who has been selected to serve on the Illinois Task Force for Ranked Choice Voting! The purpose of the Task Force is to review voting systems and the methods of voting, including ranked-choice voting, that could be authorized by law. Barb's expertise will be an asset to the team, and we are delighted that League will have a seat at the table!
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Illinois has quite a few Leagues who have yet to fill out the Annual League Survey. The evaluation team at LWVUS knows that this is a busy time of year and heard from Leagues that they need more time to submit their survey response. To accommodate all Leagues, LWVUS has extended the deadline to complete the survey to the end of the year.
One leader in each League should have received a link via email to complete the survey – if your League did not receive a link, please reach out to evaluation@lwv.org ASAP. All Leagues who submit their survey responses will have a chance to win a Convention 2024 registration. For more information, check out the League Management site.
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Save the Date for Issues Briefing | |
Mark your calendars today! LWVIL's annual Issues Briefing will be held Saturday, February 24, 2024. Stay tuned for more information. | |
Submit Your League's Photos | |
We love to see the smiling faces of League members! Help LWVIL elevate and share the hard work of our members by submitting photos of your local League's activities.
All photo submissions will be added to our photo library. They may be used in LWVIL marketing and communications materials, including possible placement on the LWVIL website and social media platforms.
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Happy New Year from LWVIL
We wish all our members a peaceful holiday season and look forward to continuing the League's good work with you in the new year!
You can help support our Get Out the Vote efforts in 2024—before the year is out, please consider making a donation.
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Members power the League! Thank you for your time and donations. | | | | |