Thousands of errors found in voter lists in 3 states

A spot check of registered voter lists around the nation found disturbing evidence of thousands of clerical errors that could allow people to vote more than once or even to vote after they've died.

According to official records reviewed by Scripps newspapers and Scripps Howard News Service, several people appeared to have cast ballots in recent elections even though they are listed as dead on federal records.

"That's impossible," said Mary Edmonds of Anderson County, S.C., after learning that her sister, Martha, was listed as having voted there in the June Republican primary even though she died the previous year. "I'm concerned with the accuracy of the records. I always want to vote, and I want my vote to count."

Scripps Howard News Service assisted four newspapers -- the Anderson Independent-Mail in South Carolina, The Commercial Appeal of Memphis, Tenn., the Scripps Treasure Coast newspapers in Florida and the Knoxville News-Sentinel in Tennessee -- in a check of the accuracy of the voting records.

In the case of Anderson County, it appeared that more than 1,100 dead people are still registered to vote, 219 voters had duplicate registrations, and 14 people appeared to have voted in recent elections even though they are listed as deceased with the Social Security Administration.

In several cases, as with Martha Edmonds, it appears that poll workers logged in the wrong voters while checking off names on Election Day.

"I really believe this to be a data entry error on the office's part, not a motive by some unscrupulous person," said Chris Whitmire, spokesman for the South Carolina Election Commission.

Election officials in Tennessee ordered a last-minute purge of the registration rolls last week after the Scripps review found that as many as 5,174 registered voters in Memphis' Shelby County are actually deceased. The study found as many as 12 people voted in the 2004 general election even though they appear to have died earlier.

"They've wasted our tax dollars with a system that is just so full of holes," said John Harvey, a vocal critic of the Shelby County Election Commission who has hounded officials for years to purge dead voters. Harvey blames both Republicans and Democrats on the election agency's five-member governing board.

"It's a bipartisan lousy effort. Neither side cares. ... They should all fall on their swords and leave. They're doing a terrible job," Harvey said.

The study found that at least 450 people are registered twice in counties along Florida's Treasure Coast and 971 convicted felons had not been removed from the rolls.

Tennessee officials in Knox County also ordered a review of voting records after learning from the Scripps review that as many as 342 people are registered twice, including 268 who are registered at different addresses.

"The vast majority are clerical errors," said Greg Mackay, Knox County Election Administrator. "We're going back and rectifying them. So far we've not found any instances where anyone's voted twice."