WAUKEGAN -- Lake County Clerk Willard Helander has called for an investigation of more than 1,000 questionable voter registration forms received by her office in recent weeks.
Helander said she has asked the Lake County State's Attorney's office and Sheriff's Dept. to investigate the forms, which include problems such as non-existent or incorrect addresses, signatures that appear to be forged, as well as registrations of deceased persons and family pets.
Todd Govain, supervisor of voter registration for Lake County, said he first noticed the problem when looking through a stack of voter registration forms and found many of the addresses did not match the Parcel Index Number assigned to the properties for tax purposes.
"We got a lot of bad addresses," Helander said.
Helander said all of the questionable voter registration forms were mail-in forms, where a person's identity and address are more difficult to verify than in-person registration. Helander said approximately 880 potentially questionable mail-in forms were delivered to her office by a Chicago man. She said the man claimed to have been involved in a voter registration drive spearheaded by the YWCA of Lake County, but the man was wearing a Service Employees International Union shirt.
She declined to disclose the name of the man, who she said has been referred to investigators.
Helander said she's concerned the potential for voter registration fraud could compromise the integrity of the election, particularly in a close race.
"We need to know that everybody that marks the ballot is a verified registered voter," she said.
