More than a dozen Missouri counties have more registered voters on their rolls than they do voting age adults, a scenario that triggered a U.S. Justice Department lawsuit following the last presidential election.Topping that list is St. Louis County -- Missouri's most heavily populated area and a pivotal battleground in next week's presidential election between Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama.
| And heavily, heavily Democratic. What a surprise ... |
Having more registered voters than voting-age residents raises the question of whether some people could vote twice in different jurisdictions.
State and local election authorities, however, say they are not concerned about the potential for fraud as the result of the inflated rolls. They say voter rolls appear unusually high because they include thousands of "inactive voters" -- generally people who have moved but, under federal law, cannot yet be deleted from the rolls.
"Missourians should have confidence in their election system," said Laura Egerdal, a spokeswoman for Secretary of State Robin Carnahan. "Local election authorities across the state have taken great care in maintaining the rolls and ensuring any voter added to the rolls is eligible to vote, and that any person who is removed from the rolls is done so under the guidelines of federal law," she said.
Based on a similar comparison of census and voter rolls, the AP first reported in October 2004 that there were more registered voters than eligible adults in 36 of Missouri's 114 counties, as well as in the stand-alone city of St. Louis. The next year, the U.S Justice Department sued, claiming Missouri election officials had failed to keep voter rolls up to date. That lawsuit remains pending in U.S. District Court.