(The Center Square) – After the Department of Justice announced charges against 10 foreign nationals for unlawful voting and registration offenses in Minnesota, an Illinois state senator said it’s hard to know about election integrity issues in the Land of Lincoln.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announced the indictments at a news conference in Washington on Wednesday.
“Charges include illegally voting in the general elections of 2022, 2024 and the primary elections of August 2026,” Blanche said.
A statement from U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota Daniel Rosen said the defendants include three Liberian nationals and individuals from seven other countries.
“We’re making it clear that in addition to protecting Minnesota taxpayers from financial fraud, federal law enforcement is protecting the citizens of Minnesota from voter fraud,” Rosen said.
Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said Homeland Security Investigations is just getting started.
“We have over 1,600 voter fraud cases that we are currently investigating, and we have 300,000 more that we’re getting to,” Mullin said.
Illinois state Sen. Andrew Chesney, R-Freeport, said everyone should welcome the federal investigations.
“If it’s 3,000 voters, 300,000 voters or however many voters there are that are a problem, we should try to address it,” Chesney told The Center Square.
Chesney said Republican county clerks in his district take election integrity seriously.
“But they recognize there are shortcomings within the election laws in the state of Illinois. So the answer is, we don’t know because we can’t ask,” Chesney said.
Chesney said it’s difficult to manage the process if you’re not allowed to ask for a photo ID.
“It’s a huge issue,” Chesney said.
