Thanks to an appeals court ruling, the same-day registration option is restored to voters in populous counties around Chicago, Aurora, Rockford, Bloomington and the Metro East region.

Same-day voter registration is back, in counties with populations more than 100,000, thanks to an October Seventh Circuit Appeals Court ruling which temporarily overturned a lower court judge’s decision.

Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan, along with the Americans for Civil Liberties Union and other groups received an expedited ruling giving the same-day registration option back to voters in populous counties around Chicago, Aurora, Rockford, Bloomington and the Metro East region.

“The ruling will ensure tens of thousands people are not denied the right to vote on Nov. 8 and allows Illinois to continue to be a leader in election reform,” said Cook County Clerk David Orr in a statement.

Around 110,000 Democrat and Republican voters across the state registered on the same day they voted in the March, 2016 primary. Election Day registration has been a state law since 2014.

While lower-court Judge Samuel Der-Yeghiayan ruled that the law restricted voter access to rural Illinoisans, Madigan and others argued that more harm would be caused by limiting voter access in heavily-populated counties which are the homes of more than 80 percent of registered voters in Illinois.

“Many voters who move don’t update their registrations, and when they show up in their precincts on Election Day, they can only vote if election-day registration is an option,” Orr said. “We shouldn’t turn these people away.”

In Rockford, “Grace Period Registration” and voting will be available at the polling places or at an offsite Winnebago Co. location, said Stacey M. Bixby, executive director of the Rockford Board of Elections.

“On Election Day, DuPage County will have ‘Grace Period’ Registration and Voting for every Precinct in each of the 254 polling places they are assigned,” wrote Joseph Sobecki, assistant executive director of the DuPage County Election Commission.

Aurora will also allow election-day registration at the polling places.

“We follow the law and we will have same-day registration as it applies to our jurisdiction at the polling places,” said Lin Fencher of the Aurora Election Commission. “… Unless there is another stay/injunction/ court order changing the process.”

Voters are urged to check their voter registration status online well before the election. Early voting begins Oct. 24.

— Same-day voter registration in Illinois back in play  —