SPRINGFIELD—Without opposition, House Speaker Michael Madigan’s plan to amend the Illinois Constitution to ban voter-suppression tactics passed the Senate Thursday.
The measure, which needed 36 votes to pass in the Senate, cleared the chamber 52-0 and will appear on the November 4th ballot after having passed the House earlier this week.
The amendment provides no person could be denied the right to register to vote or to cast a ballot in an election based on race, color, ethnicity, status as a member of a language minority, sex, sexual orientation, or income.
“Currently there is no state cause of action or law that denies a right to register to vote or cast a ballot based on these characteristic,” said Sen. Kwame Raoul, D-Chicago, the amendment’s chief Senate sponsor.
The Senate vote comes after last year’s U.S. Supreme Court decision to strike out a key piece of the 1965 Voting Rights Act. States were able to set their own voting registration and voting laws, which some analysts said suppressed Democratic voter turnout.
Raoul cited his own experience as justification for the amendment.
“In my case, I did more than hear about it,” he said. “I traveled to Florida to volunteer in the last presidential election. My own mother, who in 2012 [was] 83 years old, had to wait five hours in line.”
Senate President John Cullerton, D-Chicago, said this plan would protect against that.
“While many states are enacting discriminatory laws that restrict voting rights, Illinois is taking steps to be on the right side of history,” Cullerton said in a prepared statement. “I’m proud of today’s bipartisan action to guarantee fundamental rights.”
Sen. Matt Murphy, R-Palatine, said this would allow voters “unfettered access” to exercise their voting rights.
“We take seriously that fundamental, quintessential concept of the right to vote,” he said. “We can send a message and make clear with this bill right here that it doesn’t matter what your surname is, if you have earned that right to vote, you will not be impeded in any way in exercising it.”
In order to become part of the state Constitution, either three-fifths of those voting on the question or a majority of those voting in the overall election must approve it.
