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Oct 31, 2008 7:36 am US/Central
Report Says Dead People May Be Voting In Dallas
DALLAS (AP) ―
A report of the county's voter rolls found as many as 6,000 names of people who may be dead, but elections officials questioned some of the findings, according to a newspaper report.
Dallas County elections administrator Bruce Sherbet said officials were investigating the report's allegations and the notion that thousands of dead people remain active voters is dubious. He also questioned why the report came so close to Election Day, Nov. 4.
"The whole thing would have to be looked at very carefully before you take it at face value," he said.
A report by the online news organization Texas Watchdog also said two men who died in the last two years were listed as having voted in the March Democratic primary in Dallas
The names of many of the people identified in the report have already been noted to prevent voting in their name, Sherbet said.
He acknowledged that with more than 1.2 million voters on the county's rolls, it is possible some deceased people are listed improperly. But he doesn't think the number approaches 6,000. He said the elections office purges deceased voters from its files using weekly information from the state's vital statistics office and monthly reports from Dallas County.
He said any names that cannot be confirmed as deceased are placed "in suspense," leaving them technically on the voter rolls but without permission to vote. He said 3,000 names of the 6,000 noted in the report were already in suspense, a process that allows the county time to clarify whether a person should be removed permanently from the rolls.
Dallas County Commissioner Kenneth Mayfield, a Republican, said he was alarmed by the number of names in question and concerned about potential voting fraud.
Sherbet acknowledged there is always a possibility of fraud, but said the county hasn't had reason to forward a case of "dead voter" fraud to the district attorney's office in at least three decades and possibly longer.
(© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.)
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