Dead voters on rolls, other glitches found in 6 key states
Sunday, December 5, 2004 at 01:11AM
TheSpook
A Tribune analysis of voter records suggests that
more than 5,000 dead people remained on the rolls on Election Day in
New Mexico. The presidential election there was decided by 6,000 votes.
And New Mexico is not alone. The Tribune's review of voter data there
and in five other key states--Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Michigan and
Minnesota--found widespread flaws in the integrity of voter rolls. More
than 181,000 dead people were listed on the rolls in the six swing
states, despite efforts to clean up the country's voting system after
the 2000 election. Thousands more voters were registered to vote in two
places, which could have allowed them to cast more than one ballot.
Further, more than 90,000 voters in Ohio cast ballots without a valid
presidential choice. Either they decided not to choose a candidate, the
machine failed to register their choice, or they mistakenly voted for
more than one candidate. And the FBI is investigating allegations that
Republicans in Florida mounted a large-scale campaign to tamper with
ballots. County-by-county results provided to The Associated Press on
Friday indicated Bush's margin of victory in Ohio will be about 119,000
votes, smaller than the unofficial margin of 136,000, mainly because of
the addition of provisional ballots. Ohio's so-called spoilage rate,
ballots cast without a discernable vote for president, was lower than
Florida's in the 2000 election. But the number of discarded
ballots--92,000--represents a significant number, given that Bush's
margin of victory was about 119,000. [more]
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