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North Carolina Investigating Hundreds of Potential Voter Fraud Cases

AP

State elections officials in North Carolina have uncovered hundreds of cases of potential voter fraud, FoxNews.com reports. The officials identified thousands of registered voters with the same personal information as voters who voted in other states in 2012.

Elections Director Kim Strach told state lawmakers at an oversight hearing Wednesday that her staff has identified 765 registered North Carolina voters who appear to have cast ballots in two states during the 2012 presidential election.

Strach said the first names, last names, birthdates and last four digits of their Social Security numbers appear to match information for voters in another state. Each case will now be investigated to determine whether voter fraud occurred.

Investigators are looking at each individual case.

Additionally, election officials discovered 81 residents who died before election day but cast a ballot nonetheless.

Elections officials are required by North Carolina state law to check information for voters against a database containing 101 million voters in 28 states.

The cross-check found listings for 35,570 North Carolina voters whose first names, last names and dates of birth match those of voters who voted in other states. However, in those cases middle names and Social Security numbers were not matched.

The analysis also found 155,692 registered North Carolina voters whose information matched voters registered in other states but who most recently registered or voted elsewhere. Strach said those were most likely voters who moved out of state without notifying their local boards of elections.

Criminal prosecutions for voter fraud are unlikely. Only 11 people have been prosecuted following the 2010 election on allegations of double voting due to similar database checks in 15 states.