By Illinois Radio Network

SPRINGFIELD – A programming error in the state’s automatic voter registration system could result in immigrants in the country legally facing deportation.

When 16 of the more than 500 people who received voter registration cards by mistake because of an error in Illinois’ automatic voter registration program, they may have committed a felony.

The issue was limited to keypads at Illinois Secretary of State facilities. When customers indicated that they weren’t a citizen, the system should have stopped the registration process. Instead, the machines forwarded information for 574 people who said they were not U.S. citizens to the Illinois State Board of Elections to be registered to vote.

State and federal politicians have criticized a technical glitch at Illinois Secretary of State facilities across the state. They have called for firings, hearings, and a suspension of the program until it’s certain the issue is solved.

Fred Tsao, senior policy counsel for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, doesn’t expect the issue that’s now garnered national attention to hamper the movement to install automatic voter registration programs elsewhere. However, he said he was concerned that the potential non-citizens, who may be in the country legally, who cast ballots in 2018 will have their lives upended because of the state’s programming error that lead to improper voter registration.

“It is a very bad situation to be in,” he said. “Unfortunately, immigrants may be in this situation through no fault of their own.”

A 1996 reform to federal immigration law made voting in an election immediate grounds for deportation. Tsao, and Illinois elections officials, said they are not aware of any reporting requirement on the state’s behalf, but the issue could make it much more difficult for immigrants who voted to obtain citizenship.

“Most often these situations arise when someone is filling out that application and they have to answer that question, truthfully,” Tsao said. “They’re, in essence, self-reporting that they have voted in an election when they shouldn’t have.”

Tsao said it’s likely that a number of the people the state improperly registered to vote were in the country on permanent work permits. Should any of them have mistakenly voted, their status in the country could be in jeopardy.

The Department of Homeland Security, the managing agency of U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement, didn’t respond to a request for comment Thursday about if the agency would seek out the information of the 16 people who cast ballots after being improperly registered because of the state’s programming error.

U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, said Tuesday that it was too early to tell what might happen to any non-citizens who voted.

The issue arose from keypads in the state’s DMV facilities. Since the state’s automatic voter registration program began in July 2018, more than 500 people who indicated they weren’t U.S. citizens on the keypads when applying for either a state-issued identification card or drivers license were improperly registered to vote because their information was wrongly forwarded along to the Illinois State Board of Elections as if they were registered voters in their respective counties.

Secretary of State Jesse White’s office had been under pressure to get the program implemented quickly, with advocacy groups threatening lawsuits.

In 2016, state Sen. Dan McConchie, R-Hawthorne Woods, released a statement in opposition to the automatic voter program that raised the issue state officials are now scrambling to address.

“This legislation is very problematic,” McConchie wrote in the 2016 statement. “Under this proposal, non-citizens will be automatically registered to vote and then perhaps later removed from the rolls. If a non-citizen is registered and the state fails to remove that person in a timely fashion, they will get a voter card in the mail and likely believe they can legally vote. And if they do vote, they will be committing a felony.”

One of the few circumstances where a non-citizen can legally vote is in Illinois on local school council elections in Chicago.

Illinois Radio Network can be reached at [email protected].