Will County Gazette

Veteran state Rep. Margo McDermed (R-Mokena) is leading the charge to wipe out voter fraud in Illinois, starting with cleaning up voting rolls.

Along with fellow Republican Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst), McDermed has filed House Bill 4060, which stipulates that a “county coroner, medical examiner or any other individual responsible for certification of death under the Vital Records Act” must transmit certified records to the county clerk within seven days after a person’s death.

In addition, the clerk must also use the electronic reporting system for death registrations to cancel the voter registration of any person who has died during the preceding month. Finally, county clerks would be required to release a quarterly report to their county board certifying compliance and the accuracy of the voter rolls.

Illinois state Rep. Deanne Mazzochi (R-Elmhurst)

In McDermed’s mind, it all seems very simple and straightforward.

“County clerks should be comparing voting records against death records in order to keep rolls up to date,” she told the Will County Gazette. “This is just to protect the integrity of our elections and to make sure what should be happening really is.”

McDermed points to a recent CBS Chicago news report that detailed how several Illinois voters were still in the system even after their deaths as an example of how the state's notoriety for voting fraud is more than a myth. In one case, a man had voted at least 11 times since his death more than 20 years earlier.

“If you don’t scrub the records, it presents the opportunity for fraud,” McDermed said. “It seems easy enough, but for some reason [officials have] chosen not to take the extra precautions.”

HB 4060 was formally filed earlier this year and is now awaiting assignment to a committee for further consideration. Mazzochi filed similar legislation in 2019 that ultimately stalled before getting either a hearing or committee vote.