Isn’t modern medicine wonderful?  A hundred years ago, the average life expectancy in the United States was 47 years.  In 2009, the federal government recently announced that it is 78 years.  And, now, in an age when NASA has machines roving Mars, many states are extending the voting life of citizens for years after they are medically pronounced dead.

There are 116,000 dead eligible voters in Massachusetts.  And in Florida, one major newspaper recently investigated and reported that almost 15,000 dead Floridians are still hanging around on the election rolls – just six weeks before one of the most vicious and important election cycles in our history.  Can it be the sun?  Most States have similar statistics.  Every two years, states must report to the federal Election Assistance Commission (EAC) information about the integrity and accuracy of their voter rolls.  The latest report is not good news for our democracy – or our international reputation.  South Dakota, Texas, Kentucky, Mississippi and Indiana report in excess of a dozen counties with more registered voters than breathing human beings old enough to vote.  West Virginia, Maryland, Iowa and North Carolina also reported having eligible deceased voters on their rolls.  The list goes on and on.  And so does the real risk that these voters will have illegal votes registered in their names.  Close races, like the Franken/Coleman race in Minnesota can be decided on just a handful of votes.  We may have to go to purple thumbprints at this rate.  Hugo Chavez must be howling at this American disgrace.

Democrats seem to be suspiciously inept at cleaning out the rolls.  The Ohio Secretary of State is not at all anxious about the fact that nearly 5,800 departed Ohioans are still registered to vote.  A partisan Democrat, Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner is more concerned about the living – Spanish speaking only voters.  She has cooperated with the Department of Justice to force Cuyahoga County to spend $500,000 on bilingual ballots to accommodate about 6,000 non-English speakers.

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