(a) The State Election Commissioner, in consultation with the Departments of Elections for the counties, shall promulgate the voter registration application and shall set the effective date of each new version. The application shall be updated as necessary to comply with state and federal law and/or to facilitate administration of the State's voter registration program. The application shall be uniform throughout the State and shall be used for all voter registration transactions within the State.
(b) The application shall be in 2 parts. The Departments of Elections for the counties shall send the original part of each application that was accepted and processed to the State Election Commissioner office. The Departments of Elections for the counties shall maintain the second copy in the County Master Record. The records contained in the County Master Record shall remain in the office of each department and not be removed for any reason except as provided by law.
(c) The voter registration application shall include a question asking whether or not the applicant is a citizen of the United States. The Departments of Elections for the counties shall reject the applications of new registrants who indicate that they are not citizens of the United States or who fail to answer the question. The departments shall notify such persons by first-class mail that their application has been rejected and the reason or reasons thereto. Persons already registered to vote who indicate that they are not citizens of the United States shall be notified by first-class mail that their voter registration shall be cancelled at the expiration of 15 days if they do not affirm in writing that they are citizens of the United States. The departments shall cancel the voter registration of any persons who fail to affirm in writing that they are United States citizens after the expiration of the aforesaid 15-day period. Persons who subsequently affirm in writing to a department that they are United States citizens shall be reinstated by the department as a registered voter.
(d) The voter registration application shall include a place for the applicant's home telephone number; provided however, that the provision of a telephone number shall be annotated on the form as being optional, and no application shall be rejected for lack thereof. Any registered voter may have that registered voter's own telephone number removed from the electronic voter registration files by making a request of the department of elections for the county in which they are registered either by telephone or in writing.
(e) The applicant's signature may be a digitized signature obtained by a state agency as part of a process that includes registering a person to vote or updating the applicant's voter registration information.
(f) The State Election Commissioner, in collaboration with the Departments of Elections for the counties, may examine methods to streamline the voter registration process through the application of technology. The State Election Commissioner, in consultation with the Departments of Elections for the counties, may adopt and implement such technology. In the event that the process adopted conflicts with subsection (b) of this section, that subsection shall be considered null and void. These innovations may include adoption of a paperless or semi-paperless registration process.
(g) The State Election Commissioner shall make the State's Voter Registration Application available on the internet by January 1, 2006.