A programming error in Illinois’ automatic voter registration system that mistakenly enrolled more than 500 people was a “wakeup call,” the state’s top elections official said Feb. 5.
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SPRINGFIELD — A programming error in Illinois’ automatic voter registration system that mistakenly enrolled more than 500 people was a “wakeup call,” the state’s top elections official said Feb. 5.
One string of code among 8.5 million others controlling the “hundreds of functions” of the secretary of state’s office resulted in 574 people who identified themselves as non-U.S. citizens being registered to vote, the agency’s senior legal advisor, Nathan Maddox, said.
Of those people, 15 cast ballots. Only one was not a citizen, Maddox said.
“I think that if there’s a silver lining to this, it’s going to cause us to make sure that our systems are as good as they can possibly be,” Steve Sandvoss, director of the Illinois State Board of Elections, said.
Four Republican representatives spent more than an hour Wednesday, on the eve of early voting opening for the state’s March 17 primary election, questioning secretary of state and elections board officials. Springfield Rep. Tim Butler said several instances caused “fears that our elections system is compromised,” and asked what can be done to alleviate further issues.