Study: States dropping thousands of voters

NEW YORK, Oct. 9 (UPI) -- Officials in at least six swing states have removed from rolls tens of thousands of voters, possibly violating federal law, a New York Times review indicates.

The actions don't appear intentional or coordinated by a political party, but occurred apparently because of mistakes in handling registrations and voter files as state elections officials tried to comply with a 2002 federal law intended to overhaul the elections process, the Times said.

The revised voter registration lists in the six competitive states -- Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina -- could result in Election Day snafus including people showing up to vote and being challenged, the Times said.

States have been trying to comply with the Help America Vote Act of 2002 by removing names of voters who should no longer be listed. The Times review indicated for every voter added to the rolls during the past two months in some states, election officials removed two.

Michigan and Colorado apparently are improperly removing voters from the rolls within 90 days of a federal election for unapproved reasons, the Times said. Indiana, Nevada, North Carolina and Ohio seem to be using Social Security data improperly to verify new voter registration applications.

The Times study indicates three other states may be violating federal law. Alabama and Georgia seem to be improperly using Social Security information while Louisiana appears to have removed thousands of voters after the federal deadline.