SPRINGFIELD –– Illinois Secretary of State Jesse White is reminding citizens that Oct. 8 is the deadline for applying to register to vote in the Nov. 5 general election through the motor voter program. The Secretary of State's office gives citizens the opportunity to fill out an application to register to vote when applying for or renewing a driver's license or state identification card. However, the Secretary of State's office only sends the application to the voter's election authority, which is responsible for registering voters.
"Voting is one of our most precious rights that we cannot and should not ignore," White said, "especially at a time when America is uniting to exercise the very freedoms upon which this country was founded."
White said that all Secretary of State facilities take applications for registration through the motor voter program from those who come to the facility to obtain or renew their drivers' licenses or identification cards. But after Oct. 8, people who file applications through the motor voter program will not be registered for the general election on Nov. 5.
In 2000, White formed a committee headed by Dr. Paul Green of Roosevelt University's School of Policy Studies that reviewed the motor voter program and recommended a number of changes. The Secretary of State's office has implemented those changes to streamline the motor voter program and made it more efficient.
For more information on voter registration, call the Illinois State Board of Elections at 217-782-4141.
