ACORN

[classicman]

Looks like some people don't need ACORN to get involved... maybe too many.

Six Alabama counties have more enrolled voters than people of voting age

Friday, October 17, 2008

KIM CHANDLER

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.

“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.

Chapman said she has asked her staff to take a closer look at the county registrations.

The counties that have more people on the voting rolls than they do voting-age residents, according to a News analysis, were Conecuh, Greene, Lowndes, Perry, Washington and Wilcox.

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…

The counties with 100 percent registration are some of Alabama’s least populous, so an error in the population estimate or a few extra voters on the rolls would have a bigger impact statistically than in larger counties.

Chapman said even a small problem on the rolls is still a problem. Some elections in the state have been decided by fewer than half a dozen votes, she pointed out.

Counties across Alabama have been seeing unusually high voter registration in recent months, testimony to the interest in the Nov. 4 presidential election. The last day to register to vote in the election is Oct. 24.