State officials demand Champaign voting judges stop requesting multiple IDs

After hours of confusion for voters in a Campustown precinct, the Illinois Attorney general's office has demanded Champaign County election officials stop asking for "multiple, unnecessary forms of identification."

University students voting at the Illini Union complained throughout the day that they had been asked for multiple proofs of residence and judges' standards for acceptable documents were inconsistent.

"We are asking the State's Attorney to work with us to make sure that this stops immediately and that all students who are eligible are able to vote," read the statement from Attorney General spokesman Scott Mulford.

An election monitoring team was sent to the Union close to 7 p.m. Tuesday evening to make sure judges stopped asking for multiple forms of identification.

Acceptable forms of identification "include but are not limited to" a current and valid photo ID, a current utility bill, bank statement, government check, paycheck, or other government document that shows the voter's name and address, according to the Illinois state election code.

"It (seemed like it) depends on the judge," said Jenny Block, senior in Media, who was turned away from voting at the Union because she did not have proof of residency. "I think a lot of people didn't come back the second time if they had to prove residency."

At Lincoln Avenue Residence Halls, election judges allowed students to log into their University student accounts under their supervision to prove residency. In a 30-minute period Tuesday afternoon, about ten students proved their residency this way.

Gloria Andujar-Garcia, senior in LAS, attempted to vote in the Union Tuesday afternoon but was turned away because she did not have proof of residency.

"They just didn't make it clear that students have to have proof of address," Andujar-Garcia said.

Samantha Powers, sophomore in AHS was given a provisional ballot when she tried to vote at Snyder Hall Tuesday afternoon. Powers said she was registered to vote but her name did not appear in the system.

"Sometimes they made people show their driver licenses and proof of residence but I think they stopped asking earlier," Powers said.

Tom Smurr, sophomore in LAS, also said the election judges at Snyder Hall were only asking for drivers' licenses and not for proof of residence.