No ID Needed For Illinois Voting — But Many Voters May Not Know It

CHICAGO, IL — Illinois is among only 18 states, plus the District of Columbia, where voters are not requested or required to present identification, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

But nearly 40 percent of voters in those states “incorrectly believe that they will be required to show identification prior to voting,” the Pew Research Center said. The Pew Research figure was based on a survey of more than 3,600 registered voters conducted from Sept. 27 to Oct. 10.

The rules for states requiring or requesting voters to show some form of identification vary.

“Fourteen states have election laws that are more restrictive than they were during the last presidential election in 2012. Most of them require voters to show a photo ID before casting their ballots,” PBS Newshour reported.

In Indiana, for example, a voter failing to provide identification can vote on a provisional ballot but must return within six days to “show an ID or sign an affidavit swearing to indigence or a religious objection,” the NCSL said. But in Delaware, voters without identification simply sign an affidavit affirming their identity. In Missouri, “If ID is not presented, the voter may cast a regular ballot if two election officials attest they know him/her.”

While more than a third of voters in states with no identification requirement wrongly believe they are subjected to one, the overwhelming majority of voters in states that do have such laws are aware of them, to an extent.

Pew Research said 77 percent of voters in states with identification laws knew ID was needed, but more than one in five of were unaware that a photo ID was required, “which may result in inconvenience or could prevent them from voting at all.”

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