Suspicious California voter registrations led FBI to Back of the Yards home in 2018
An FBI investigation into potential fraud and identity theft within California’s online voter registration system led two years ago to a home in Chicago’s Back of the Yards neighborhood, recently unsealed court records show.
There, authorities say they collected “election mail,” county recorder documents and “California voter registrations” during a search in May 2018 in the 5200 block of South Paulina Street.
Though the investigation revolves around the suspicious registration of California voters ahead of a June 2018 primary vote, the unsealed document does not allege that those registrations led to cast ballots.
The FBI began its investigation in September 2017, according to an attached affidavit from a special agent. The California Secretary of State had flagged 52 voter registrations submitted between May and November of that year, it said. Though the registrations included the name and home address for “a current or former legitimate resident of California,” all 52 also listed the same Chicago mailing address in the Back of the Yards.
Fifty of those voter registrations also listed the same phone number, which the agent said was subscribed to by someone receiving mail at the Back of the Yards address.
That is a strange story. I’ll bet 52 is a small fraction. Hopefully they are looking to expand the investigation.