I have tried to be confident about the election this year. As of today, according to pollster.com, Obama is leading in every Kerry state, plus Iowa, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and Montana, and is straight-up tied with McCain in Montana and Nevada.

I tried to convince myself that the Obama campaign (building on Howard Dean's 50-state strategy), would post a victory too broad to be stolen. Then yesterday I read in the paper that some county in Virginia sent "voter information" to university students falsely asserting, among other things, that if they register to vote at university, they can no longer be claimed by their parents as dependents for tax reasons, and they might lose t...

I have tried to be confident about the election this year. As of today, according to pollster.com, Obama is leading in every Kerry state, plus Iowa, Virginia, Colorado, New Mexico, Ohio and Montana, and is straight-up tied with McCain in Montana and Nevada.

I tried to convince myself that the Obama campaign (building on Howard Dean's 50-state strategy), would post a victory too broad to be stolen. Then yesterday I read in the paper that some county in Virginia sent "voter information" to university students falsely asserting, among other things, that if they register to vote at university, they can no longer be claimed by their parents as dependents for tax reasons, and they might lose their health care if still attached to their parents' policy. I read about voter caging in Ohio. Now I read about voter purges in Colorado.

In modern history, it is ALWAYS the Republicans who seek to limit the franchise: purging rolls, caging voters, putting out false information, intimidating voters, challenging ballots and registrations. I saw a conservative on ClipMarks argue that voters should pass a civics test first. Hey, why not a poll tax or grandfather clause?

Unless everyone has the same opportunity to vote, our democracy doesn't work.

Bloated registrations —including dead people — clog up voters' rolls across Colorado
October 28-November 3, 2004 — Robert M. McIver was registered to vote in Teller County in the last federal election, but he never showed up at the polls.

Ruth M. Favatella didn't cast a ballot, either.
That's because, according to the Teller County coroner and Social Security records, McIver and Favatella had both been dead for more than two years.

The two were among at least 15 deceased people who were listed as eligible to vote two years ago in the small mountain county west of Colorado Springs, according to an Independent examination of voter records. Some had been dead for only weeks or month...

Bloated registrations —including dead people — clog up voters' rolls across Colorado
October 28-November 3, 2004 — Robert M. McIver was registered to vote in Teller County in the last federal election, but he never showed up at the polls.

Ruth M. Favatella didn't cast a ballot, either.
That's because, according to the Teller County coroner and Social Security records, McIver and Favatella had both been dead for more than two years.

The two were among at least 15 deceased people who were listed as eligible to vote two years ago in the small mountain county west of Colorado Springs, according to an Independent examination of voter records. Some had been dead for only weeks or months, others for many years.

And that's not all.
In addition to voters who had died, Teller County's voter rolls in November 2002 were also bloated with hundreds — probably thousands — of names of other people who no longer lived at their registered addresses.

More than 30 voters also appeared to be registered more than once. As of last Friday, there were 16,843 voters registered in Teller County — 12,961 of them are "active," meaning they recently voted. According to the state demographer, 17,148 people over 18 currently live in Teller County.

The county's apparent failure or inability to update its voter rolls has led to a dubiously high voter-registration rate: At the time of the 2002 election, the county claimed to have 16,135 registered voters — amounting to an amazing 99 percent of its voting-age population at the time.

El Paso County, by comparison, reported a registration rate of 86 percent, equal to the state's average. (There are currently 355,761 voters in El Paso County — 271,579 of them active. The state demographer estimates 406,826 people over age 18 currently live in this county.)