I was going to contact you about this anyway, see if you'd do a story. There was no press release. I just happened to be talking to Proft and Timpone and gave it to them.
I've been pushing this story in DC to no avail, so it's time to push more locally. (Don't publish this, please.)
Not in the City Wire story: I filed a new FOIA last week, this time asking for amended data and all documents pertaining to the amendments. The board responded yesterday with a request for an extension (which they're entitled to do.) So, an opportunity for another story next week.
My original writeup on the story, from several weeks ago, is below. I've also attached a spreadsheet.
"If this discrepancy is just an innocent error, why have they stonewalled us for six months?"
"When you make a mistake of this magnitude, it requires a fast, honest, open response. They've done just the opposite."
"The raw partisanship displayed by this Board of Elections deserves an investigation by the President's Commission on Election Integrity."
Not for publication:
Yes, I've had a discussion with Judicial Watch. They have the info. What their role might be is still to be determined. Must wait for the FOIA response.
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In January the Chicago Republican Party filed a FOIA request with the Chicago Board of Elections for the list of voters who had voted in the November 2016 general elections.
The board responded with a list of 1,101,178 individuals. A quick check of the elections returns published on the Chicago Board of Elections website showed that 1,115,664 votes had been cast. The difference between the number of voters in the file and the number of votes cast was 14,000, or about 1.3%.
There should be never be more votes than voters; every ballot cast should be recorded against a registered voter.
A breakdown of the votes by precinct shows that the discrepancies are not evenly distributed. Fifteen precincts show 100 more ballots cast than voters. One precinct shows more ballots cast than registered voters. Some precincts show a negative discrepancy, that is, more voters than votes cast. Subtracting out those precincts, the total discrepancy is about 16,000 votes or 1.4%.
The Chicago Republican Party made an inquiry, pursuant to FOIA, as to the source of the discrepancies. Despite repeated followups, the board has failed to respond except to say that they have been "reviewing all discrepancies" and that there will be a "final report". It's been more than six months since the first inquiry. At this point it seems to be more than a simple clerical error. They're stonewalling.
Given the history of voter fraud in Chicago, the magnitude of the problem, and the Chicago Board of Election's history of favoring the Democrats, the problem warrants external scrutiny.
A spreadsheet is attached. Tab one shows the discrepancies by precinct. Tab two shows the same data sorted with the largest discrepancies first.
