Illinois court blocks same-day voter registration law only available to higher population counties - Entrepreneur Generations

The law would block same-day voter registration in
Sangamon County, Illinois, which includes many rural towns,
but has a large population because of Springfield

A federal judge in Illinois this week blocked a state law that allows same day voter registration only in counties with 100,000 or more residents, Timothy Mclaughlin reports for Reuters. Chicago-based Liberty Justice Center, a conservative group, filed a lawsuit in August claiming the law favored urban voters over rural ones. The group "argued the population threshold unconstitutionally discriminated against voters in less populated counties and boosted Democrats in heavily Democratic Cook County, where Chicago is located."

Some of the counties affected include disadvantaged rural regions, such as in Sangamon County, which is made up mostly of small towns, but has a population of 197,465, because it includes 116,250 residents in Springfield.

An appeal of the ruling by Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, a Democrat, was denied on Thursday, reports The Associated Press. Her office argued "that yanking the option so close to the Nov. 8 election would unfairly deny some citizens voting rights." In his explanation of denying the appeal, Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan wrote: "This court did not restrict the rights of any voters. The legislation did."

from The Rural Blog http://ift.tt/2dd8Nzp Illinois court blocks same-day voter registration law only available to higher population counties - Entrepreneur Generations

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