Figures don't add up

4 Ohio counties have more registrations than voters; fraud not necessarily cause

By Dennis J. Willard and Doug Oplinger Akron Beacon Journal 02 October 2004

 

There are four counties in Ohio where voter registration has exceeded the number of voting-age people, according to 2003 U.S. Census population estimates: Franklin, Delaware, Fayette and Mercer.

An additional 26 of the state's 88 counties have voter registration already exceeding 90 percent of their populations and many have stacks of voter registration cards to count.

Franklin County, won narrowly by Democrat Al Gore in 2000, has about 815,000 people age 18 or older. On Friday, the county's voter registration number stood at 817,000.

Matt Damschroder, board director, said his office is taking in about 6,000 to 8,000 registrations each day.

Damschroder said the discrepancy is in large part because of inactive voters people who moved or died and whose names have yet to be purged from the rolls and new voters who may be registering multiple times to ensure they are eligible.

Franklin County converted software in 1999, and because of Y2K concerns did not follow its normal schedule to purge voters.

``We wanted to err on the side of enfranchisement,'' Damschroder said, adding that about 250,000 voters are inactive in the county, meaning they have not cast a ballot in the past four federal election cycles.

``It's not a cause for alarm. It's not an indication of fraud,'' Damschroder said.

Franklin County has registered 93,000 new voters this year, he said.