Illinois Voter Registration Processing Taking Longer Than Expected

This story was written by Chris Davies, The Daily Vidette

The importance of the November elections has been stressed by on-campus groups big and small. Many student organizations have put forth a strong effort to register as many voters as possible for the upcoming election in order to do their part.

However, many students who registered with the Illinois State University Democrats have expressed concern as to whether their registration was accepted by the McLean County Clerk's office.

President of ISU Democrats Katie Boundy stressed that no such problem exists.

"Because we used the 'motor voter' form to register students, the process of registration is slow," she said. "We chose this method because it requires less identification and is easier for students.

"We turned all of our information in to the County Clerk. However, due to the sheer volume of registrations they received, it has been taking them a while to process everything."

An employee for the McLean County Clerk's office stated that more than 1,000 registrations were turned in on the final day to register, Tuesday, and are currently being processed.

Sophomore graphic design major Erin Shaw is simply glad that students have been registered to vote.

"This election is going to be a really important one. Everyone has been repeating that for months. It's good that students are registering and taking advantage of their chance to be heard," Shaw said.

The good news for students who registered via motor voter is that a voter registration card is not necessary in order to fill out a ballot on November 4. Boundy explained that students can call the County Clerks office to make sure they are registered and then simply take identification with them to the polling place.

"Everyone we registered should be able to vote," she said. "As long as they put their mailing address as Normal they can vote right here in town as well."

Anyone with questions regarding their registrations can reach the McLean County Clerks office at (309) 888-5190. Only those students registered in Normal will be able to vote on-campus. Students registered elsewhere can request an absentee ballot or must return to their polling place in order to place their vote.