(INDIANAPOLIS, IN) – January 23, 2020. The Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) initiated a private investigative effort into recent official disclosures that Illinois’ automatic voter registration system reportedly invited noncitizen DMV customers onto the voter rolls. More than a dozen are reported to have voted in the 2018 Midterms as a result.

“We’ve warned and proven for years that Motor Voter was pushing noncitizens onto voter rolls,” PILF President and General Counsel J. Christian Adams said. “Then Illinois and other states made it worse by automating the process. The Foundation has sent a demand letter under public inspection rights of the National Voter Registration Act to Illinois for data regarding the alien voting problem they have and impacts on elections there— like a sheriff’s race decided by a single ballot.”

Early local news reports based on statements from the Illinois State Board of Elections indicate that an alleged programming glitch in its new automatic voter registration system for DMV customers placed 574 noncitizens into the statewide registry prior to the 2018 General Election. Of those, at least 19 cast a ballot. The hundreds of noncitizens were reportedly self-identified, meaning more could remain masked as citizens within the voter roll to date.

The Foundation filed a records inspection request with the ISBE to address at least four inquiries:

• Were all of the self-reported 574 noncitizens actually registered via DMV transactions?
• Is Illinois undertaking any official efforts to proactively identify remaining registered noncitizens?
• Were noncitizens self-reporting in Illinois prior to the 574 cases?
• Did any self-reported noncitizens vote in elections potentially decided by their participation?

The Foundation intends to distribute a catalog of findings to better educate the general public on official election fraud risks ahead of the 2020 Elections.

Section 8 of the National Voter Registration Act of 1993 (NVRA) empowers any party to physically inspect local election records related to voter list maintenance efforts.

A copy of the inspection request letter may be accessed, here.

The Public Interest Legal Foundation is the nation’s most active public interest law firm dedicated to enforcing the National Voter Registration Act (NVRA) and ensuring the integrity of American elections—bringing more than a dozen cases to enforce voter list maintenance obligations and inspection rights under federal law in federal courts across the nation in addition to serving as amicus in more than a dozen voting law cases. The Foundation also works with election officials and policymakers to improve the integrity of elections.

Public Interest Legal Foundation (PILF) is a 501(c)(3) public interest law firm dedicated to election integrity. The Foundation exists to assist states and others to aid the cause of election integrity and fight against lawlessness in American elections. Drawing on numerous experts in the field, PILF seeks to protect the right to vote and preserve the Constitutional framework of American elections.

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