Illinois Republican Party

Quinn strikes blow to dead voter bill
7/28/2010

By Kurt Erickson - Lee Newspapers

A proposal aimed at making sure dead people are purged from Illinois’ voting rolls will be in legislative purgatory at least until after the November election.

For the second time in as many weeks, Gov. Pat Quinn has used his veto pen to rewrite a proposed law. On Tuesday, he wrote new provisions into the dead voter bill to give residents the opportunity to introduce ethics-related legislation into the General Assembly.

“Public participation in government is a founding principle of our democracy,” said Quinn, a Democrat. “This amendatory veto will help ensure that the voice of the people of Illinois does not go unnoticed in the General Assembly and at the ballot box.”

State lawmakers can either accept or reject Quinn’s changes. They also could do nothing, and the entire bill would die.

State Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, who is not related to state Sen. Bill Brady of Bloomington — Quinn’s GOP opponent in the Nov. 2 election – questioned the governor’s move.

“I’m not sure I necessarily agree with it,” said Brady, who sponsored the original measure regarding dead voters. “This is a little troublesome.”

As the sponsor of the bill, Brady controls whether it will be called in the fall veto session, when lawmakers gather to decide whether to approve or reject changes to bills by a governor.

Brady said the original measure was supposed to make it easier for local election officials to remove deceased voters from their records. The proposal would allow them to tap into the state’s electronic death certificate system and compare those names with those on their voting lists.

“Most county clerks and voting authorities backed the bill because it would cut down on the amount of time they spend manually purging voter rolls,” Brady said. “To me, it makes a lot of sense.”

His colleagues agreed; the measure was approved unanimously in both chambers.

Quinn’s rewrite would allow residents to introduce bills about ethical conduct and campaign finance reform if they are able to collect 100,000 signatures. The House and Senate would then have 15 days to vote on the question. If the General Assembly rejects the idea, the language would be placed on the ballot in the next election.

“Voters need a safety valve to ensure that ideas, however inconvenient or unpopular for incumbent officeholders, proceed through the legislative process,” Quinn said in a statement.

Brady said he could choose to take no action on Quinn’s changes and start over on the death records measure with an entirely new bill.

“I would like to get the original into law,” Brady said. “The governor makes those decisions. Obviously, I don’t agree with him.”

SOURCE: QC Times

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