Sorry, Donald; Your Chicago Voter Fraud Excuse Is Bulls**t

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 19, 2016 3:52PM

Donald Trump / Getty Images / Photo: Sara D. Davis

With Donald Trump’s current chances of winning the presidency at a mere 12 percent, the GOP candidate has been humbled as of late, facing likely defeat with grace and composure. Just kidding! The Orange Voldemort [h/t Slut Talk] and his operators have decided to undermine the very fabric of American electoral democracy, making unsubstantiated “pants-on-fire” cries of widespread voter fraud. And to absolutely no one’s surprise, Trump has again targeted Chicago for his #RiggedSystem campaign.

Although Trump has made gestures to a voter-fraud excuse for months, it really ramped up beginning Sunday. As with gun violence and “law and order” reform, Chicago was unwittingly cast into frame again. Trump adviser Rudy Giuliani told CNN, “To tell me that I think the elevation in Philadelphia and Chicago is going to be fair, I would have to be a moron to say that. I would have to be a moron to say that. I mean, I would have to dislearn everything I learned in 40 years of being a prosecutor.”

Trump furthered the line on Tuesday afternoon in Colorado. "Take a look at St. Louis. Take a look at Philadelphia. Take a look at Chicago," Trump said. He then made what could be construed as threats of intimidation at the polls: "Look, if nothing else, people are going to be watching on Nov. 8. Watch Philadelphia. Watch St. Louis. Watch Chicago, watch Chicago. Watch so many other places."

But despite our “theatrically corrupt” reputation, contemporary history shows otherwise. The Tribune reported:

“…[Jim] Allen, the Chicago elections spokesman, said much has changed when it comes to actual voter fraud.

"To give some context, in the last 10 years we've had 10 referrals of suspicious activity to the state's attorney's office and at the same time we've had 9 million ballots cast," Allen said. One referral led to the convictions of two men on misdemeanor charges of manipulating absentee ballots in a 50th Ward aldermanic contest in 2007.”

And the threat of multiple voting is basically a canard nowadays, Allen added. Thanks, technology! The Trib added:

Allen said the city board's use of electronic poll books at polling places blocks "the prospect of double voting," and the electronic connections between early voting sites make it "impossible" to vote more than once.

Allen’s comments were backed up by other election officials, including Cook County Clerk David Orr. "When voters come in, we have Republican and Democratic judges here, watching this count, Orr told CBS. "When they start opening mail ballots, we have people there. When it's early voting, we have Republicans and Democrats watching everything,” Orr says.

Meanwhile, sources close to Trump say that the GOP plans to spend some portion of Wednesday night's final presidential debate just repeatedly shouting, "Why just hate the player when you can hate the game?!"

But why Chicago this time, Trump? Illinois is no swing state, with Clinton's chance of winning the state at over 99 percent. In fact, Illinois is so blue compared to its neighbors, it's the only Midwestern state that wouldn't vote for Trump if only women voted.