Dupage Policy Journal

Illinois State Rep. Amy Grant (R-Wheaton) wants to prevent deceased Illinoisans from voting in future elections.

House Bill 4788, filed by Grant on Feb. 6, would require county clerks, who maintain the state’s voter rolls, to use county death records to cancel the voter registrations of anyone who died during the previous month.

Grant’s bill would require “a county coroner, medical examiner, or physician for a county or any other individual responsible for certification of death under the Vital Records Act to promptly transmit certified records to the county clerk within 7 days after the death.”

It would also require county clerks and coroners to provide quarterly reports to their county board certifying that they have done this work, and allows individual citizens to review these reports.

In 2016, CBS 2 investigative reporter Pam Zekman reported on deceased voters casting ballots in City of Chicago elections. She profiled Floyd Stevens, who died in 1993 but voted eleven times after his death, and Victor Crosswell, who died in 1994 but voted six more times.

In 2020, DuPage County State's Attorney Bob Berlin found vote-by-mail applications filled out in the names of deceased people.

Grant represents Illinois House District 21, a position she assumed in 2023. She is running for reelection and will be on the Republican primary ballot on March 19, 2024. Grant earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pittsburgh. She resides in Wheaton.