Columbia, SC (February 23, 2012) - The S.C. State Election Commission (SEC) today released the findings of a partial review of information provided by the S.C. Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) suggesting 953 votes were cast in the name of deceased voters. Due to the size and scope of the task of examining every claim, the review was limited to 207 cases related to the 2010 General Election.
In 197 of these instances, the records show no indication of votes being cast fraudulently in the name of deceased voters. Research found each of these cases to be the result of clerical errors, bad data matching, errors in assigning voter participation, or voters dying after being issued an absentee ballot. In 10 cases, the records were insufficient to make a determination.
The research related to these 207 cases has been provided to the S.C. Attorney General's office (AG) and the State Law Enforcement Division (SLED). The AG and SLED continue to examine all information related to the case.