Public Act 097-0275
 
SB0098 EnrolledLRB097 00015 JAM 40070 b


  
    AN ACT concerning elections.
  
 
    Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois,
 
represented in the General Assembly:
  
 
 
    Section 5. The Election Code is amended  by changing 
Sections 19-12.1 and 19-12.2 as follows:
 


    (10 ILCS 5/19-12.1)  (from Ch. 46, par. 19-12.1)




    Sec. 19-12.1. 
Any qualified elector who has secured an 
Illinois
Disabled Person Identification Card in accordance 
with The Illinois
Identification Card Act, indicating that the 
person named thereon has a Class
1A or Class 2 disability or 
any qualified voter who has a permanent physical
incapacity of 
such a nature as to make it improbable that he will be
able to 
be present at the polls at any future election, or any
voter 
who is a resident of (i) a federally operated veterans' home, 
hospital, or facility located in Illinois or (ii) a facility 
licensed or certified pursuant to
the Nursing Home Care Act or 
the MR/DD Community Care Act and has a condition or disability 
of
such a nature as to make it improbable that he will be able 
to be present
at the polls at any future election, may secure a 
disabled voter's or
nursing home resident's identification 
card, which will enable him to vote
under this Article as a 
physically incapacitated or nursing home voter. For the 
purposes of this Section,  "federally operated veterans' home, 
hospital, or facility" means the long-term care facilities at 
the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Illiana Health Care System, 
Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Marion VA Medical Center, and 
Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. 

    Application for a disabled voter's or nursing home 
resident's
identification card shall be made either: (a) in 
writing, with voter's
sworn affidavit, to the county clerk or 
board of election commissioners, as
the case may be, and shall 
be accompanied
by the affidavit of the attending physician 
specifically describing the
nature of the physical incapacity 
or the fact that the voter is a nursing
home resident and is 
physically unable to be present at the polls on election
days; 
or (b) by presenting, in writing or otherwise, to the county 
clerk
or board of election commissioners, as the case may be, 
proof that the
applicant has secured an Illinois Disabled 
Person Identification Card
indicating that the person named 
thereon has a Class 1A or Class 2 disability.
Upon the receipt 
of either the sworn-to
application and the physician's 
affidavit or proof that the applicant has
secured an Illinois 
Disabled Person Identification Card indicating that the
person 
named thereon has a Class 1A or Class 2 disability, the county 
clerk
or board of election commissioners shall issue a disabled 
voter's or
nursing home resident's identification
card. Such 
identification cards shall be issued for a
period of 5 years, 
upon the expiration of which time the voter may
secure a new 
card by making application in the same manner as is
prescribed 
for the issuance of an original card, accompanied by a new

affidavit of the attending physician.  The date of expiration of 
such
five-year period shall be made known to any interested 
person by the
election authority upon the request of such 
person.  Applications for the
renewal of the identification 
cards shall be mailed to the voters holding
such cards not less 
than 3 months prior to the date of expiration of the cards.

    Each disabled voter's or nursing home resident's 
identification card
shall bear an identification number, which 
shall be clearly noted on the voter's
original and duplicate 
registration record cards. In the event the
holder becomes 
physically capable of resuming normal voting, he must
surrender 
his disabled voter's or nursing home resident's identification

card to the county clerk or board of election commissioners 
before the next election.

    The holder of a disabled voter's or nursing home resident's

identification card may make application by mail for an 
official ballot
within the time prescribed by Section 19-2. 
Such application shall contain
the same information as is

included in the form of application for ballot by a physically

incapacitated elector prescribed in Section 19-3 except that it 
shall
also include the applicant's disabled voter's 
identification card number
and except that it need not be sworn 
to. If an examination of the records
discloses that the 
applicant is lawfully entitled to vote, he shall be
mailed a 
ballot as provided in Section 19-4. The ballot envelope shall

be the same as that prescribed in Section 19-5 for physically 
disabled
voters, and the manner of voting and returning the 
ballot shall be the
same as that provided in this Article for 
other absentee ballots, except
that a statement to be 
subscribed to by the voter but which need not be
sworn to shall 
be placed on the ballot envelope in lieu of the affidavit

prescribed by Section 19-5.

    Any person who knowingly subscribes to a false statement in

connection with voting under this Section shall be guilty of a 
Class A
misdemeanor.

    For the purposes of this Section, "nursing home resident" 
includes a resident of (i) a federally operated veterans' home, 
hospital, or facility located in Illinois or (ii) a facility 
licensed under the MR/DD Community Care Act. For the purposes 
of this Section,  "federally operated veterans' home, hospital, 
or facility" means the long-term care facilities at the Jesse 
Brown VA Medical Center, Illiana Health Care System, Edward 
Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Marion VA Medical Center, and Captain 
James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. 
(Source: P.A. 96-339, eff. 7-1-10.)

 


    (10 ILCS 5/19-12.2)  (from Ch. 46, par. 19-12.2)



    Sec. 19-12.2. Voting by physically incapacitated electors 
who have made
proper application to the election authority not 
later than 5 days before
the regular primary and general 
election of 1980 and before each election
thereafter shall be 
conducted on the premises of (i) federally operated veterans' 
homes, hospitals, and facilities located in Illinois or (ii) 
facilities licensed or
certified pursuant to the Nursing Home 
Care Act or the MR/DD Community Care Act for the sole benefit 
of
residents of such homes, hospitals, and facilities. For the 
purposes of this Section,  "federally operated veterans' home, 
hospital, or facility" means the long-term care facilities at 
the Jesse Brown VA Medical Center, Illiana Health Care System, 
Edward Hines, Jr. VA Hospital, Marion VA Medical Center, and 
Captain James A. Lovell Federal Health Care Center. Such voting 
shall be conducted during any
continuous period sufficient to 
allow all applicants to cast their ballots
between the hours of 
9 a.m. and 7 p.m. either on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday
or 
Monday immediately preceding the regular election. This 
absentee voting on
one of said days designated by the election 
authority shall be supervised by
two election judges who must 
be selected by the election authority in the
following order of 
priority: (1) from the panel of judges appointed for the

precinct in which such home, hospital, or facility is located, 
or from a panel of judges appointed
for any other precinct 
within the jurisdiction of the election authority in the
same 
ward or township, as the case may be, in which the home, 
hospital, or facility is located or,
only in the case where a 
judge or judges from the precinct, township or ward
are 
unavailable to serve, (3) from a panel of judges appointed for 
any other
precinct within the jurisdiction of the election 
authority. The two judges
shall be from different political 
parties. Not less than 30 days before each
regular election, 
the election authority shall have arranged with the chief

administrative officer of each home, hospital, or facility in 
his or its election jurisdiction a
mutually convenient time 
period on the Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday
immediately 
preceding the election for such voting on the premises of the 
home, hospital, or
facility and shall post in a prominent place 
in his or its office a notice of
the agreed day and time period 
for conducting such voting at each home, hospital, or facility;

provided that the election authority shall not later than noon 
on the Thursday
before the election also post the names and 
addresses of those homes, hospitals, and facilities from
which 
no applications were received and in which no supervised 
absentee voting
will be conducted.  All provisions of this Code 
applicable to pollwatchers
shall be applicable herein. To the 
maximum extent feasible, voting booths or
screens shall be 
provided to insure the privacy of the voter. Voting procedures

shall be as described in Article 17 of this Code, except that 
ballots shall be
treated as absentee ballots and shall not be 
counted until the close of the
polls on the following day. 
After the last voter has concluded voting, the
judges shall 
seal the ballots in an envelope and affix their signatures 
across
the flap of the envelope. Immediately thereafter, the 
judges
shall bring the sealed envelope to the office of the 
election authority
who shall deliver such ballots to the 
election authority's central ballot counting location prior to

the closing of the polls on the day of election.  The judges of 
election shall
also report to the election authority the name 
of any applicant in the home, hospital, or facility
who, due to 
unforeseen circumstance or condition or because
of a religious 
holiday, was unable to vote.  In this event, the election

authority may appoint a qualified person from his or its staff 
to deliver
the ballot to such applicant on the day of election.  
This staff person
shall follow the same procedures prescribed 
for judges conducting absentee
voting in such homes, hospitals, 
or facilities and shall return the ballot to the central ballot 
counting location before the polls close. However, if the home, 
hospital, or facility from
which the application was made is 
also used as a regular precinct polling place
for that voter, 
voting procedures heretofore prescribed may be implemented by 2

of the election judges of opposite party affiliation assigned 
to that polling
place during the hours of voting on the day of 
the election. Judges of election
shall be compensated not less 
than $25.00 for conducting absentee voting in
such homes, 
hospitals, or facilities.

    Not less than 120 days before each regular election, the 
Department
of Public Health shall certify to the State Board of 
Elections a list of
the facilities licensed or certified 
pursuant to the Nursing Home Care
Act or the MR/DD Community 
Care Act. The lists , and shall indicate the approved bed 
capacity and the name of
the chief administrative officer of 
each such home, hospital, or facility, and the State Board
of 
Elections shall certify the same to the appropriate election 
authority
within 20 days thereafter.

(Source: P.A. 96-339, eff. 7-1-10.)