Chicago City Wire

With the General Election now less than 40 days away, Northwest Side GOP Club Vice President Ammie Kessem is sounding the alarm about levels of vote fraud she insists she’s seen up close and personal.

“I have seen the fraud that is common, firsthand with my own eyes,” Kessem told Chicago City Wire. “In 2018, I saw a bus full of mentally disabled individuals brought to a polling location and I watched the woman who brought them there literally scold one of the individuals because they didn’t choose the candidate they wanted them to choose. This past primary, I had a woman tell me that she had to ask for a Republican primary ballot three times before the correct ballot was loaded onto her screen once she submitted the card into it. Luckily, she was knowledgeable enough to realize what had happened and that she had been given a Democrat ballot. These are just a few examples of the shenanigans that go on.”

With those dark episodes starkly in mind, Kessem is now urging more Republicans to sign on as election judges and polling place observers for November. And if they see something, Kessem wants them to say something.

“We need people that aren’t afraid to call it out when they see it and who are willing to get the authorities involved if needed,” she said. “I believe the Board of Elections have come a long way in improving that office, especially since David Orr had taken it over, but there are improvements that can be made. For example, why are three different voter cards sent to a voter in three different names? One is a maiden last name, one is a married last name to the first husband from 20 years ago, and another one in the second husband’s last name?”

Kessem argues there has to be a better and safer way.

“If the DMV can register voters that system needs to have a mechanism to delete and change that information when it’s updated also because all three of those cards went to the person’s new address where they have only been living at for just over a year," Kessem said. "I realize this year is going to be an even bigger challenge due to health restrictions being imposed by COVID-19 and that makes it even more important to have our people in place to make sure that every vote is counted the way the individual voter intended.”