From The Southern

ILLINOIS GOP OFFICIALS CONCERNED ABOUT ABSENTEE BALLOT FRAUD ALLEGATIONS IN ALEXANDER COUNTY
BY CALEB HALE
THE SOUTHERN
[Thu Oct 28 2004]
CAIRO -- State Republican Party Chairwoman Judy Baar Topinka plans to be in Cairo today, urging both the Alexander County State's Attorney and the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of Illinois to address allegations of absentee ballot fraud in the county.
With Election Day looming, Illinois GOP officials say they have attorneys investigating several instances of alleged absentee ballot fraud within the city of Cairo. Party officials say they found that 27 of 80 addresses obtained from the Alexander County Clerk's office returned pieces of mail as undeliverable.
Ty Fahner, former Illinois attorney general from 1980 to 1983 who is now a private Chicago attorney, has been helping the state GOP investigate the county, which he said has long been suspected for questionable voting practices.
"We know that places like Cairo...have been hotbeds of illegal voting for years," Fahner said. "We're just trying to get an honest vote down there."
Fahner said he was alerted to the problem when the Republican party had 27 of the 80 postcards it sent to Cairo return to the headquarters, marked as undeliverable. He said the addresses were obtained from the Alexander County Clerk's office's absentee ballot registration list.
"The return of mail was quite heavy, and it all came inside one precinct," Fahner said.
The GOP hired an attorney to investigate the matter in person in Cairo. Fahner said the field attorney reported two of the addresses in question, 312 29th St. and 320 33rd St., were vacant lots; two more addresses, 421 10th St. and 509 10th St. were abandoned homes with gas lines cut.
County clerk Gloria Patton, who mentioned she was "tired of dealing with (questions) about voter fraud," said she didn't know of any problems with the addresses filed on the absentee registration list.
She said the addresses on the list were the addresses people reported when they registered.
"I haven't had one piece of mail sent out returned from these addresses," Patton said.
This isn't the first time the county has had fraudulent voting practice allegations against it. In the 2000 primary election, a race between circuit clerk candidates Susan Hileman and Sharon McGinness was thrown into turmoil when Hileman claimed she lost her incumbent seat due to vote buying on McGinness' part.
A judge eventually order McGinness to vacate the office, however the county board still appointed her to the seat.
Local Republican party members in Alexander County say they are ensuring they get what they claim will be a fair election this year.
Republican party member Curtis Miller, of Tamms, said he has been helping educate election judges on Illinois State Board of Election rules, something he said Patton failed to do this year.
Patton said she didn't have a person available to complete election judge training this year but would be training them in January, according to the regular schedule.
caleb.hale@thesouthern.com 618-529-5454 x15090