Illinois officials: 1 noncitizen voted in automatic registration error

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (KMOX) -- Illinois officials now say at least one non-U.S. citizen voted after an error in the state's automatic vote registration system mistakenly registered more than 500 people who said they weren't citizens.  Secretary of State Jesse White says he's angry it happened. They fixed the error the day it was discovered and he says he still has faith in the program."More than 600,000 people have been registered since this program launched in July 2018," White told a panel of lawmakers during a hearing in Springfield. "We've had a lot of success with it, we want to continue to go forward with it. We're going to do our best to make sure that the information we receive has been authenticated."The State Board of Elections revised its initial numbers, saying 16 people out of 545 registered voters cast ballots -- they originally thought 15 voted. Nine voters are likely U.S. citizens because they have long voter histories, leaving six people in question.State Rep. Tim Butler (R-Springfield) thanked White and the Secretary of State's Office for its quick action to fix the problem, but every vote counts -- he says this needs to be watched more closely."We have an election next door in Macon County for Sheriff that's still being litigated, it was by one vote. One vote out of 40,000 cast," Butler said. "We cannot diminish this. One vote could have made a difference here."White says he takes responsibility for the error and says his staff has been put on notice.The Associated Press contributed to this report© 2020 KMOX (Entercom). All rights reserved.