Chapter 5. Registering To Vote, this link opens in a new browser tab.

5.F.10. Documenting Sex at Registration

Sex is the dirty little secret of the Illinois State Board of Elections.

Documenting sex (or gender, if you prefer) is a voter registration requirement.

Soon after the 2022 election, the State Board of Election was tasked with providing a third, non-binary, option on voter registration forms.

As of the 2024 election cycle, they had not.

Instead, the Illinois State Board of Elections quietly asked the Election Judges to choose the sex of the registrant, without telling them.

Most Election Judges acted as honorably as they could, given the circumstance, and documented the chosen sex according to other IDs presented, such as a driver's license or State ID.

Other Election Judges chose the sex of the registrant or will ask the registrant their “sex at birth”.

Asking a registrant their “sex at birth” is an automatic challenge and report.

What is worse, is that the registration page of the online e-poll book places the choice of sex as the final question. Choosing the registrant's sex completes the registration form. If the question is not answered with “male” or “female”, then the registrant cannot register to vote.

What the Poll Watcher Is Looking For.

If a registrant is asked for their sex at birth, that is an automatic challenge.

In Illinois Election Law, providing the registrant's sex at birth NOT a requirement.

As of this writing, we don't know if the choice of "non-binary" will be available to registrants on all registration forms in the 2026–2027 election cycle.