SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Illinois voters have the chance to sign up to send their ballots for November and spring elections by mail – forever. Elections officials are sending applications for permanent permission to vote by mail to each of the state’s 8 million registered voters. No one is obligated to sign up. A 2021 law requires that every voter receive an application providing a choice to be on a permanent vote-by-mail list. The COVID-19 pandemic produced a boom in vote-by-mail, with one-third of all voters choosing that method in 2020. If you move, you must reapply. Elections officials remove voters’ names from the rolls when eligibility cards they mail annually are returned to them as undeliverable.
