DuPage State’s Attorney Investigating Attempted Election Fraud
A DuPage County polling place.
DuPage County State’s Attorney Bob Berlin says his office was forwarded 10 vote-by-mail applications under suspicion for election fraud. Berlin says all 10 of the applications were requested for deceased people.
Berlin’s office first announced the initial investigation at the end of last week, but in a conversation with The Illinoize Monday evening, Berlin says his office has narrowed the investigation to four ballot requests. He says the other six did not move forward because he believed they did not have sufficient evidence to prosecute the cases.
Berlin says there are usually “less than a handful” of election fraud cases in DuPage County in each election, usually for someone that voted twice. He says this is the first time he has seen vote by mail investigations.
He says no ballots were sent to the deceased individuals, and the county clerk’s office notified his office when the issue was found.
“The system that’s in place is safe,” says Berlin. “[This is] exactly what’s supposed to happen and it shows we have a legitimate, fair system in place.”
Berlin would not comment about any specifics of the allegations, nor would he say if officials believe the four remaining cases were organized or isolated.
DuPage County is the second largest in the state, and around 425,000 ballots were cast in the county four years ago. 10 potential cases of fraud would amount to .0000235% of ballots cast in 2016.
