Guest columnist Bob Velez, president of Graduate Assistants United and political science instructor. 

This year Illinois voters will notice a significant addition on the ballots they receive and cast at the polls.  An unprecedented five statewide measures will appear on the 2014 ballot.  Unlike some other states, notably Texas and California, the ballot initiative and referendum process in Illinois is not as commonly used and the threshold that must be reached to get a measure or question on the ballot is prohibitively high.

Illinois voters should have received in the mail documents from the Illinois State Board of Elections providing some background on the two proposed amendments to the 1970 Illinois Constitution; the last year a Constitutional Convention was convened.  The brochure provides information on the amendments as well as arguments for and against them. One amendment addresses crime victims’ rights, the other amendment concerns voting rights for Illinoisans.  Of the two, the proposed change to the suffrage and elections article is more timely considering the spate of voter identification laws that have resulted in national media attention and public protest.  No southern Illinois legislators co-sponsored the legislation enabling the amendment to be included on the 2014 ballot.

“The proposed amendment would prohibit any law that disproportionately affects the rights of eligible Illinois citizens to register to vote or cast a ballot based on the voter’s race, color, ethnicity, status as a member of a language minority, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, or income,” according to the brochure.

The advocates of the various voter identification laws that have found their way to several state supreme courts suggest that maintaining the integrity of elections is tantamount to effective democracy and fairness. While there have been allegations of in-person voter fraud, actual instances of the crime are rare. Opponents suggest voter identification laws disproportionately affect young voters, the elderly, and minority populations that may not already have the necessary photo identification. Voting in favor of this constitutional amendment could be considered a vote to prevent voter identification laws similar to those in Texas, Wisconsin and North Carolina from being proposed in Springfield.

The constitutional amendment regarding the rights of crime victims is less controversial. Of southern Illinois legislators, Reps. Mike Bost and Brandon Phelps co-sponsored the legislation placing this amendment before the voters.

“The proposed amendment would expand certain rights already granted to crime victims in Illinois, and give crime victims the ability to enforce their rights in a court of law,” according to the brochure.

There currently exists in the Illinois Constitution a section delineating the rights of crime victims.  The proposed amendment expands these rights to include not only the victim’s presence at trials and hearings of the accused at all stages of prosecution, but their active participation as well including the ability to call prosecutors actions and the decisions of judges into question.