The Dead Keep on Voting

The nexus for the Army of Darkness (aka the legion of dead voters)? Ohio, of course.

Among the thousands of graves at Highland Park Cemetery, one modest tombstone stands out.

Alex Holmes Sr. has been at rest in that cemetery for 15 years. But recent election records show he cast a ballot in this year's primary.

And our 5 On Your Side investigation found a home on Cleveland's east side listed as Holmes' address.

Jeremy Moore, Holmes' grandson, was stunned.

"He's deceased. Deceased since 1993," Moore said.

And it doesn't appear to be a name mix-up.

Records reveal Alex Holmes Jr. -- who is still alive -- voted in the same election as his deceased father.

Cuyahoga County Elections Director Jane Platten said she'll look in to it.

"Without having full detail, I have no idea why that would have happened," Platten said.

Oh, I have a real good idea. The board of elections at the state and local levels around the country aren't doing their job of clearing the voter rolls of deceased voters, felons, and others who are ineligible to cast ballots.

The Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner has done a disastrous job of handling the state elections and doesn't think it important to ensure that the voter rolls are accurate and culled of deceased voters. She issued a directive to Boards of Elections across the state to withhold dates of births in public records requests. That information is important in positively identifying dead voters. Instead, we get a situation where the dead vote. Often.

Thousands of dead voters remain on voter rolls in Memphis, and there are actual signs that at least 12 votes were cast by the dearly departed, though the efforts to clear the rolls have uncovered far more serious problems, including multiple registrations.

The names of Deaton and the others appeared despite reforms undertaken following a 2005 special state Senate election in which corrupt Memphis poll workers used the identities of dead voters to sway the outcome of an especially tight race. The reforms were aimed at ensuring deceased individuals are removed from voter rolls.

Yet inadequate purging of dead voters isn't the only concern facing the county's bulging, 645,000-name voter roll. A computer analysis by The Commercial Appeal and Scripps Howard News Service also found:

As many as 1,681 voters appeared to have more than one registration on file with the Shelby County Election Commission. Such dual registrations create the potential for fraud. Records show a handful of voters may have as many as three registrations on file.

Electronic records hint that as many as 12 dead people voted in the 2004 general election, although that finding is believed to involve clerical errors and not actual fraud.

The dead vote far more often than the New York Times or Washington Post would ever care to admit (and even then, they'll refuse to call it fraud. And every one of these votes undermines the legitimate votes cast in those districts because it effectively nullifies a legitimate vote.

How many of these deceased votes have been cast this year? Far more than ever should be allowed, and in a close election and in certain districts, it could be a decisive vote.