Politics
Illinois GOP Leaders Won’t Commit to Accepting Election Results, Say They Remain Concerned About Fraud
(Produced by Blair Paddock and Amanda Vinicky)
Leaders of the Illinois Republican Party declined Thursday to unconditionally accept the results of the upcoming 2024 presidential election, telling reporters they remain concerned about the prospect of fraud.
That echoes the position of Republican nominee former President Donald Trump, who has said he will only accept the results of the Nov. 5 general election if “everything is honest.” Trump has never accepted the outcome of the 2020 election, repeatedly insisting without evidence that he won. President Joe Biden won the 2020 election.
On his last day as the chair of the Illinois Republican Party, Don Tracy said the party had ramped up its “election integrity efforts” in its preparation for the November election.
Laws allowing voters to cast their ballots by mail and to register on Election Day “creates chaos” for the officials responsible for administration of elections, and makes fraud more likely, Tracy said.
“That creates all kinds of issues,” Tracy said, opening the door for those who want to “game the system.”
The official position of the Illinois Republican Party, adopted in May, says the state’s elections “are under attack by radical Democrats and Left-Wing operatives whose policies erode the integrity of our elections.”
Documented cases of voter fraud are very rare and have never changed the outcome of a race in Illinois.
Ballots cast by mail are counted if they are postmarked on Election Day and arrive within 14 days, making the outcome of some races unknown that day.
Tracy said voters should be required to show a government-issued identification card to cast a ballot and the rules governing signature verification on mail-in ballots tightened.
Illinois current rules amount to a “recipe for fraud,” Tracy said.
Despite those concerns, Tracy said Illinois voters should have confidence in the election results.
“There’s no perfect situation,” Tracy said, insisting that voter fraud is a real concern.
Tracy’s last day as the head of the Illinois GOP is Thursday.
“Fraud happens when you have chaos, and mail-in ballot has made it harder and harder,” Tracy said, calling on Republican voters to turn out in November.
“We need better election integrity,” Tracy said. “The only way to change it, the only way to get better election integrity rules so we can have more assurance, more confidence in fair and honest elections is to tighten up the voting rules in Illinois. And we can’t do that until we win. So, Republicans and conservatives, vote and vote early.”
U.S. Rep Darrin Hood (R-Peoria) said the Republican Convention was focused on 2024, not 2020, when there were “improprieties” and votes cast by undocumented immigrants.
LaHood, who joined a lawsuit that asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn the results of the election in several swing states filed by dozens of Republican lawmakers, said there were “unacceptable” problems concentrated in Philadelphia, Milwaukee and Detroit.
Those three cities have large Black populations, who overwhelmingly voted for Boden in 2020.
“Are we redoubling our efforts to make sure that this is an election that is run by the law that has proper integrity? Of course we are,” LaHood said. “We’re going to watch and monitor to make sure that things are done differently than 2020.”
U.S. Rep. Mike Bost (R-Murphysboro) said elections must follow the rules set by state legislatures.
“I don’t believe we’re going to have those problems this time,” Bost said.
Aaron Del Mar, a member of the Republican State Central Committee and the spokesperson for the Cook County GOP, said he is concerned about election fraud.
“We’re trying to be reasonable, we’re not trying to be conspiracy theorists,” Del Mar said. “But based on issues we’ve seen in the past, and the way elections have been run, there is certainly strong concern.”
Del Mar said the party is working to educate Republican voters about the system so they can be on alert for issues.
Contact Heather Cherone: @HeatherCherone | (773) 569-1863 | [email protected]
