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Alabama: More Voters Than Voting Age Residents In Six Counties

From the front page of today?s Birmingham News:

MONTGOMERY - Six Alabama counties have more people on their voting rolls than they do people of voting age, according to voter registration numbers and U.S. Census Bureau estimates.

The curious statistic could be the result of a surge in new registrations added to voter rolls that have not been purged of people who moved, said local election officials. But the state?s top elections chief said Thursday she?s concerned that bloated rolls could leave opportunity for Election Day fraud....

Really? More voters than legal age residents could lead to fraud? Who?d a thunk...?

The highest percentages were in Greene and Perry counties. Both had more people on the voting rolls than voting-age residents, even when only the active voter list was taken into account, and not the inactive list. Under state law, people who don?t vote for four years are moved to an inactive voter list. Inactive voters are removed from the rolls if they don?t vote in two consecutive federal elections and don?t respond to attempts to contact them by mail.

Greene County had 7,540 voters on its rolls in September, according to registration figures from Chapman?s office. But the county has only 6,834 adults 18 and older, according to 2007 estimates from the Census Bureau.

Perry County had 8,517 voters on its rolls in September. The county has 7,635 adults 18 and older, according to 2007 estimates from the Census Bureau.

Perry County Board of Registrars Chairwoman Lucy Kynard said she wasn?t sure why registration would outpace the population estimate. Kynard said the rolls are updated regularly, such as removing voters who have died or registered elsewhere.

The county has had a surge in registrations for both the presidential race and a hotly contested mayoral race. Earlier this year, the district attorney in Perry County asked the FBI to investigate an unusually high turnout and absentee voting in the June primary....

Lowndes County had 10,259 voters on its rolls in September. But the county has 9,401 adults 18 and older, according to 2007 estimates. However, of the registered voters in Lowndes County, more than 100 are listed as inactive.

But not to worry; the Alabama Secretary of State is on top of the situation.

?I can?t say it?s impossible that 100 percent of adults in five or six counties are registered to vote. But it is improbable,? Secretary of State Beth Chapman said.

That?s astute of her, but what of these counties where more than 100% of the adult residents are registered? Maybe in Alabama that, too, is only ?improbable.? (I grew up there, and hence can verify that very little chicanery is totally impossible.)

Full post as published by Discriminations on October 17, 2008 (boomark / email).