Rep. Mark Batinick | Batinick's website
Rep. Mark Batinick | Batinick's website
After the House passed HB 1871, a bill that would expand mail-in voting, state Rep. Mark Batinick (R-Plainfield) said he supports voting by mail but stressed that it should be made hard to cheat.
He said that people are not confident about the process, so officials should make sure that voting by mail is foolproof, to earn the trust of the public once more.
“People don’t trust the government and the elections." Batinick said. "We need to have people trust the elections. You can easily tip the scale and it’ll be easy to do this because there are no standards. That is why we are looking for standards. People are going to feel disenfranchised. I want people to trust the elections.”
HB 1871, a bill sponsored by Rep. Katie Stuart (D-Edwardsville), was passed into law on Thursday. This means that vote-by-mail and curbside voting will be expanded throughout the state.
Illinois started the practice ahead of the 2020 presidential election as a means to hold pandemic-safe voting.
HB 1871 will also direct federal funds from the 2002 Help America Vote Act to maintain security in mail-in and drop-off ballots.
The bill will assign two election judges from opposing parties to monitor curbside voting sites without interfering with the voter filling out the ballot.
Alerts Sign-up