September 21, 2020 – Recently, many voters in Macon County have received a letter from Secretary of State Jesse White’s office notifying them that they have yet to apply for a vote-by-mail ballot, and they should contact the office of Josh Tanner in order to complete their application. Tanner says that the letters were part of a mandate by SB 1863. SB 1863 was passed by the state legislature in May as a response to the pandemic that requires election authorities to send a vote-by-mail ballot application to every voter that participated in any of the last three elections. The law also states that the Secretary of State shall send a notice to any voter in Illinois who received an application for a vote-by-mail ballot by September 15, 2020 but according to records from the State Board of Elections has yet to apply for a vote-by-mail ballot.
Tanner says that the notices, “do not accurately reflect the current status of vote-by-mail applications my office has received from Macon County voters.” He stated that many voters who have applied for the vote-by-mail and those who do not plan to vote-by-mail are receiving the letters. Tanner said he has been processing applications and that vote-by-mail ballots will be sent to voters in the Couty who have requested them beginning on September 24th. The letters should begin to arrive the next week.
