Bartlett's rebuttal

The State Board of Elections argued that staff of the state Auditor's office misread their data.

After a review by Auditor Les Merritt's office mentioned problems with the voter rolls, the Board of Elections' Executive Director Gary Bartlett sent a 10-page memo on June 13 back to Merritt rebutting the claims.

"For the reasons set forth below, we question the existence of the irregularities you purport to ahve identified because they appear to be tainted by either a misunderstanding of elections statutes or a misunderstanding of the State Board's data," he wrote.

Among the rebuttals made by Bartlett:

* Some voters listed as having invalid Social Security numbers registered before it was required.

* Some voters listed as having invalid driver's license numbers registered before it was required.

* Some voters listed as having no birth date registered before it was required.

* Some voters listed as having died before the election voted absentee, then died.

The letter also notes that since Jan. 1, 2004, 49 people have been referred to district attorneys for registering to vote while a felon without their citizenship rights restored.