Chicago reported thousands more votes than voters in 2016

The head of the Chicago Republican Party is claiming the city reported thousands more votes cast than voters in the 2016 election -- sparking a battle with Chicago officials who call the allegations overblown.

First reported by the Chicago City Wire, the Chicago GOP filed a Freedom of Information Act request with the Chicago Board of Elections in January for a list of voters who had cast ballots in November. According to the party, the board responded with a list of 1,101,178 individuals, though its website reflects 1,115,664 votes cast.

“There should be never be more votes than voters—every ballot cast should be recorded against a registered voter,” Chairman of the Chicago GOP Chris Cleveland told Fox News, explaining that after receiving the data, the party “immediately” contacted the board for “clarification.” “This is either massive fraud or massive incompetence, but we have no way of telling the difference because they won’t give us the data.”

The discrepancy totals more than 14,000, though Cleveland claims it could be as high as 16,000.

Cleveland told Fox News he filed a number of FOIA requests—the original in January, and “several follow ups” for updated numbers.

“They ignored them,” Cleveland said. “They have been stonewalling us for six months.”

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