Andrade Fighting to Remove Illinois from Crosscheck, Protecting Voting Rights

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – In an effort to protect and preserve a citizen’s right to vote, state Rep. Jaime Andrade, D-Chicago, sponsored legislation to end the state’s relationship with Crosscheck, an interstate voter data program which has been shown to result in voter suppression.

“While Trump and the alt-right are working to roll back much of the progress that took decades to accomplish, we need to have an open voting process that allows everyone to become engaged,” Andrade said. “Crosscheck, under the guise of maintaining the integrity of voter rolls, has shown to be inaccurate and faulty, resulting in individuals losing their right to vote.”

The Andrade-backed Senate Bill 2273 would prohibit Illinois from further participating in Crosscheck. Crosscheck is a voluntary interstate program that allows states to share voter data and find duplicate registrants. A state may then use these potential duplicates to purge their voter rolls. However, the program has been shown to be problematic because it only relies on two data points: date of birth and surname. Opponents have argued that this has created a built-in racial bias, as many minority communities have common surnames, leading the program to find many false positives.

“Minority communities already face a multitude of challenges navigating their daily lives, the last thing we should be doing is threatening their ability to vote for those who set the policies that influence their life,” Andrade said. “I pledge to continue fighting to protect the voting rights of my residents, and I urge the governor to sign this critical piece of legislation so that we may back out of this dangerous program immediately.”