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The Jefferson Parish registrar of voters recently received about 1,000 erroneous voter registration applications, sparking a state-level investigation for fraud, the Jefferson registrar of voters said Friday. The registrar's office discovered that the names and addresses on applications often matched voters already in the parish system, while birth dates, Social Security numbers, driver's license numbers and signatures rarely matched the names on the applications, Registrar Dennis DiMarco said. The secretary of state's office and the attorney general's office have begun asking questions about the matter, parish and state officials said Friday. "Falsifying any voter record is a felony," DiMarco said....

With Tuesday's vote nearing, a state attorney admitted in Superior Court yesterday that the official charged with tracking deaths has failed to follow a state law designed to remove dead people from voter registration lists. The admission sparked a ruling by an astonished Judge Linda R. Feinberg that could have ramifications across the state for the election, especially in regard to absentee and provisional ballots. It also stoked further concern among Republicans - who filed suit to force action - that voter fraud remains possible, a worry that could loom especially large if the gubernatorial election is close. The flabbergasted...

Hardeman County commissioner, Beeville woman indicted for mail-in ballot violations AUSTIN - Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott today announced his office’s first indictments for alleged voter fraud in Texas, returned in separate cases by grand juries in Hardeman and Bee counties. "My office takes seriously the one-person, one-vote philosophy that has been the backbone of this country throughout its history," said Attorney General Abbott. "When the activities of even one person would undermine the electoral process, we will hold that person accountable." Hardeman County Precinct 1 Commissioner Johnny Akers, 58, was indicted late Thursday on six counts of election fraud...

SEATTLE - As the results of 2004's general election are being contested in court halfway across the state, two people pleaded guilty Thursday to voting twice in the election. Doris McFarland and Robert Holmgren each admitted in King County District Court that they cast ballots for their recently deceased spouses. Each will have to pay $490 in fines and court fees but they won't spend any time in jail. Multiple voting is a gross misdemeanor that can carry up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine. "My wife died just before this election," Holmgren, 59, told Judge Eileen...

Washington state Republicans yesterday filed a lawsuit calling for a revote in the tight 2004 gubernatorial contest that saw Democrat Christine Gregoire top Republican Dino Rossi after two recounts by 129 votes.     "Most Washingtonians don't believe this has been a valid election," said Mr. Rossi, who filed the Election Contest Petition along with the state Republican Party in Chelan County Superior Court. [snip]Republicans pointed to what they described as widespread voting irregularities in King County, a Democratic stronghold, that included votes cast by dead people and convicted felons, illegal provisional ballots, and thousands more votes than registered voters.     "We've...

Voting by dead people isn't always a scam By Jonathan Martin and David Heath Seattle Times staff reporters Days after his wife of four decades died of liver cancer, Robert Holmgren came home to find her absentee ballot. He filled in Charlette Holmgren's intended votes for Dino Rossi and George W. Bush, forged her signature, and mailed her ballot along with his. "I know by the law it wasn't right, but it felt right in my heart," he said. "I wasn't trying to defraud anybody. I was just going with my wife's last wishes." In six of the state's largest...

"since his wife no longer can vote he was determined to make sure her voice was heard."

SPRINGFIELD - Democrat John Kerry would handily defeat President George Bush in Illinois if the election were held today, a new Copley News Service poll shows. That result may reflect the fact that fewer than half of Illinoisans believe Bush is doing an "excellent" or "good" job as president, according to the same poll. But Kerry also only is ahead of Bush because of huge support in Chicago, a Democratic stronghold. Mason-Dixon Polling and Research Inc. of Washington, D.C., conducted the poll of 625 registered voters Monday through Wednesday. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4...