Pat Dollard

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Fox News:

A conservative watchdog group on Tuesday blasted the Massachusetts secretary of state for dismissing concerns about the thousands of dead voters potentially on the rolls as living voters head to the polls in the high-stakes special election for U.S. Senate.

Though one study reportedly found as many as 116,000 dead voters on the rolls in the state, William Galvin, who oversees elections, said the dead voters are removed from the voter lists.

“These are conservative groups who don’t know anything about this state,” he said, according to The Boston Herald.

But Americans for Limited Government President Bill Wilson said Galvin should take the issue much more seriously considering the weight of Tuesday’s special election.

“Massachusetts Secretary of State William Galvin has chosen to ridicule those concerned” about the dead voters on the rolls, he said in a written statement. “With so much at stake in his state and throughout the nation in today’s election, one would expect him to be more serious and less cynical. After all, it’s his job.”

Americans for Limited Government was referring to a study conducted in October by data firm Aristotle International Inc. that found more than 16 million registered voters had either died or moved. Massachusetts had a particularly high number.

CNSNews.com reported that the Bay State had 116,483 dead registered voters, and 538,567 registered voters who had moved away from their listed addresses. The data might no reflect end-of-year purges that states sometimes do to get rid of the excess names.

But the Herald reported that one conservative group was stirring concern by suggesting Coakley supporters and liberal groups like ACORN could pose as dead people to vote for the Democratic candidate.

“We guard the rights of voters here,” Galvin said.