In the 2014 general election, 68 people in Illinois voted twice for a total of 136 votes, according to an analysis of Illinois State Board of Elections (ISBE) records.
The analysis, undertaken by Local Government Information Services (LGIS), which owns this publication, seems to contradict widespread accounts that voter fraud is relatively rare and lend credence to President Donald Trump’s claims that voter fraud may have occurred in the 2016 general election.
The latest revelation comes on the heels of another LGIS study that revealed voter rolls in 2016 included nearly 50,000 duplicate voter registrations on behalf of just under 25,000 voters.
Voter records for the 2016 general election are currently being analyzed by LGIS to determine how many duplicate voter registrations were active during the election and how many registrants voted more than once.
Illinois has long held a reputation for voter fraud -- mainly through the buying of votes -- but the latest revelation points to much more direct voter fraud in those who register to vote multiple times and end up using those multiple registrations to vote more than once in the same election.
Of 136 votes cast by those recorded by ISBE as voting twice in the 2014 general election, 61 were cast in Cook County. In Will County, eight votes were duplicates, documents show. DuPage County had seven; Winnebago County, six; McHenry County, four; and St. Clair County, three.
In select cases, both votes were cast within the same county, while in other instances voters cast their votes in two different counties. All used unique, state-issued voter identification numbers.
Five votes cast in Kankakee County in the 2014 general election were duplicates, the records show, which may not come as a surprise to some. In fact, last October, just prior to the presidential election, the integrity of the Kankakee County voting system was questioned after reports of voter fraud surfaced.
Leading up to the 2016 presidential election, the Kankakee County State’s Attorney office investigated three complaints from individuals who claimed they had been offered bribes in exchange for votes.
State’s Attorney Jamie Boyd also stated in a press release at the time that there was an indication that "several" vote-by-mail applications had come from people residing outside of Kankakee County.
"This unprecedented action was taken in response to reports of individuals from Chicago offering gifts to potential voters in exchange for a vote for Kate Cloonen, Hillary Clinton and others," Boyd said in the news release. "Our office takes seriously the obligation to protect the rights of citizens to vote for the candidate of their choice, and to do so without undue influence from special interest groups.”
Madison County, which saw four duplicate votes cast, 2014 voter records show, came under increased scrutiny when the Madison Record revealed earlier this month that five people who bought votes in 2004 received $12,350 as campaign workers in 2016.
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