Study Finds Local Voter Fraud

Their numbers are small, but a town-sponsored study has found a handful of non-residents casting ballots in the town's most recent municipal election.

Here are the study's key findings:

• 50,140 voters registered in Mount Pleasant;
• 19 of those are confirmed non-residents of the town;
• 18 of those have "questionable" status;
• 37 ineligible or "questionable" individuals could have voted;
• 14 voters in the last election were either ineligible or questionable.

If all the questionable or ineligible voters in the last election cast their ballots for just one candidate for town council, they couldn't have swung the election, but it's close.

Town council candidates run at-large for their seats. The highest vote-getter takes office. In the nine-candidate race in 2011, 40 votes separated winners Chris Nickels and Chris O'Neal. Mark Smith lost his bid for council by a margin of 62 votes.

"Considering the smallest margin was 40 votes, and we had 37 (able to vote), this does have implications for future elections," said Lauren Clarkin, a College of Charleston graduate student who interned with the town this summer and conducted the study.

Most of the voters live on properties that are very close to the town's boundaries, Clarkin said. Some reside on streets where their neighbors are town residents but their own properties are not annexed into the town.

Others used commercial or storage building addresses to register to vote. In some instances, researchers couldn't determine exactly where those people live and if they are eligible to vote.

Town Councilwoman Linda Page asked for the study because she wants the town to pursue those ineligible or questionable voters for annexation. She chairs the town committee charged with bringing unincorporated lands into the town.

The town will report their findings, including the names and addresses of the questionable and ineligible voters, to the county election commission and the school district, said Town Administrator Eric DeMoura.