Inflated Voter Rolls In Mississippi And Alabama

Etah Lowe, 82, is casting a ballot in her 16th presidential election. She first voted in 1948 for Harry Truman.

"They didn't vote then at 18. You had to be 21," says Lowe. "You also had to pay, but I don't remember how much."

Today, Lowe, a proud grandmother, is bringing her granddaughter to vote absentee in her granddaughter's first election.

"I just wanted to think that I contributed something," says Emily Davis.

But, some are worried voters in George County may be contributing too much. According to Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann (R), there are 10% more people registered vote than the number of people 18 and older who actually live in the county. That equals 110% voter registration.

"This is a recipe for voter fraud here," says Hosemann. "It's another reason why we need to have voter ID in our state. It just gives us so many opportunities for mischief," he says.

An Associated Press report published Saturday says 28 other Mississippi counties and six Alabama counties also have bloated voter rolls. But, George County Circuit Clerk Chad Welford says the report, which is based on eligible voters counted during the 2000 Census, doesn't reflect the growth his county has seen in the last eight years.

"We're confident that the people voting are legitimate voters in George County," says Welford, who was elected ten months ago. "Most of my poll workers have lived here the majority of their life and they know the voters here," he says.

Here is the Associated Press list of Mississippi counties with inflated voter rolls: Each county's 2000 voting-age population is followed by the 2008 voter registration:

Amite: 10,068 VAP. 10,481 voters.
Benton: 5,867 VAP. 6,796 voters.
Bolivar: 28,587 VAP. 29,050 voters.
Covington: 13,813 VAP. 13,842 voters.
DeSoto: 77,005 VAP. 83,934 voters.
George: 13,560 VAP. 14,960 voters.
Grenada: 16,945 VAP. 17,239 voters.
Humphreys: 7,541 VAP. 9,709 voters.
Issaquena: 1,645 VAP. 1,646 voters.
Jefferson Davis: 9,998 VAP. 10,786 voters.
Jefferson: 6,937 VAP. 7,100 voters.
Kemper: 7,795 VAP. 7,838 voters.
Lamar: 28,134 VAP. 30,709 voters.
Lawrence: 9,635 VAP. 10,021 voters.
Leake: 15,308 VAP. 16,234 voters.
Leflore: 26,667 VAP. 27,752 voters.
Lincoln: 24,324 VAP. 26,076 voters.
Madison: 53,294 VAP. 76,940 voters.
Noxubee: 8,697 VAP. 10,225 voters.
Scott: 20,293 VAP. 22,911 voters.
Sharkey: 4,409 VAP. 4,689 voters.
Smith: 11,731 VAP. 12,196 voters.
Tallahatchie: 10,427 VAP. 13,231 voters.
Tunica: 6,324 VAP. 6,652 voters.
Walthall: 10,853 VAP. 13,870 voters.
Warren: 35,476 VAP. 36,967 voters.
Webster: 7,607 VAP. 7,660 voters.
Wilkinson: 7,648 VAP. 10,241 voters.
Yalobusha: 9,711 VAP. 9,943 voters.

Here are the six Alabama counties with inflated voter rolls (Numbers were not available at press time):

Conecuh
Greene
Lowndes
Perry
Washington
Wilcox