Barb Brown, D-Chester, said at a press conference in front of the Carbondale Driver’s License Facility, that the federal government passed legislation to make it easier for people to register to vote in 1993. She said the legislation the one-tier, motor-voter plan was designed to remedy the fact that 50 percent of U.S. citizens fail to vote.

The one-tier plan allows states to register voters through the mail or while motorists are registering at local driver’s license facilities.

Brown said the present Illinois two-tier, motor-voter system allows driver’s license facilities to register voters only for national elections and in person.

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Brown said Republicans are afraid of the federal one-tier plan because they fear what would happen if more people came out to vote.

It’s an outrageous system, Brown said. There’s no other rationale than they (Republicans) tend to be wary of working class people participating in elections.

She said Republicans have spent $200,000 on the two-tier system instead of following the federal system.

The two-tier system costs too much, she said. The cost is twice as much as what it needs to be.

Lillian Adams, deputy registrar for the Jackson County League of Women Voters, said people who register at driver’s license facilities believe that they are registering for state and national elections. She said that is not true.

She said voters are going to be angry and confused at the polls when they realize that they only registered for national elections through the present one-tier system.

Gov. Jim Edgar has said he does not support the one-tier plan because he is concerned voter fraud would be easier. He said the one-tier plan allows people to register by mail, instead of in person, which could lead to voter fraud.

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Brown said she believes Edgar’s concern is a cop out, and she challenged Republicans to follow the law of the land and pass the national one-tier plan.

We have the technology to prevent there being that kind of fraud, she said. No state (with the one-tier system) is showing any problems that the governor suggests.

State Sen. Dave Luechtefeld, R-Okawville, who is running against Brown for the Illinois Senate seat, could not be reached for comment Monday.