Chapter 3 — Registering To Vote
B. Documentation Needed To Register To Vote
A printable PDF of the list of documentation needed to register to vote in Illinois
1. Voting For the First Time
Illinois Secretary of State, Jessie White, has announced an extension of the driver's license registration renewal date to December 1, 2022
This will take voters past Election Day.
Illinois does not require an ID to vote, but the extension of the renewal date may impact Grace Period registration.
Poll watchers should challenge Grace Period registrations that are rejected because the driver's license or state ID was past the renewal date.
A copy of the extension notice can be found at:
Jesse White Extending Driver's License and ID Card Expiration Dates until December 1, 2022
Illinois state IDs, and Illinois driver permits are also being extended.
Illinois Commercial Driver's License (CDL) and Illinois CDL permits are not being extended.
On a related note, Homeland Security has extended enforcement, but not the renewal date on Real ID to May 3, 2023.
IDs presented, which are Real ID compliant and are not Illinois driver's licenses and Illinois state IDs, will show their actual renewal date.
A copy of the Homeland Security notice can be found at:
DHS Announces Extension of REAL ID Full Enforcement Deadline
2. Other Identification Not Listed
An election judge does have limited latitude to accept other forms of identification.
Election judges have accepted the following identification:
government correspondence is preferred.
where Election Day is within the lease date.
The final decision on whether to accept these additional IDs is up to the election judge.
If the above IDs are not accepted, the poll watcher may challenge and request for a majority vote of election judges.
Although 10 ILCS 5/4-105 does not state it, and except for the college ID and the social security number, the ID needed to establish identity are government issued, photo IDs where citizenship has already been established.
Also not stated, the identification used to prove current address is dated to show both that the registering voter meets the 30 day residency requirement and establishes a current address.
If a poll watcher believes that a election judge is accepting, let's just say... "less than adequate" identification, the poll watcher can challenge it. Ask for a panel of three judges (on from a different party than the other two) to review the decision. Then, accept the decision.
Temporary Visitor Driver's License (TVDL)
The Temporary Visitor Drive's License is an ID for a non-citizen with legal, temporary entry into the country and who is temporarily residing in Illinois.
Although it is issued by the state, is not an acceptable ID for voting.
A poll watcher can recognize a TVDL by its distinctive purple header.
3. Change of Address, Change of Name, Change of Signature
Updating an address, a signature, and/or a change of name will require the same documentation listed above, but also allows:
4. New Construction
A problem which is sometimes, but rarely, seen is when an address cannot be found in the voter registration system because it is new construction and the records have not been updated.
It is not the fault of the voter or of the election authority, it is simply an oversight.
The voter can vote a provisional ballot. The voter will have to provide the same information and produce the same documentation as a regular voter registration, but all the registration information will be recorded on the provisional ballot envelope to be updated by the election authority after the election.
The voter should be advised to provide the election authority (i.e., County Clerk or Board of Election Commissioners) the documentation supporting their new address; such as, but not limited to, property sales document, the first page of the mortgage documents, and/or the first page of the property lease.