ASHCROFT FEARS VOTER FRAUD; COOK'S OFFICE SAYS POLITICS BEHIND CONCERN

Voter registration procedures are fraud prone and could jeopardize the integrity of next week's election, U.S. Sen. John Ashcroft warned.

But a spokesman for Secretary of State Bekki Cook said Wednesday the warning was politically motivated.

Spokesman Jim Grebing said voter fraud is highly unlikely in Tuesday's election. He said the senator's comments are politically motivated, coming just days before an election in which Cook is in a heated contest with Republican John Hancock.

Ashcroft, R-Mo., paints a far different picture of the vote-fraud issue. The senator visited with election officials in four southwest Missouri counties Monday. He said non-citizens are being added to voter rolls as a result of mismanagement and lax oversight by state agencies, despite the best efforts of county clerks.

In Stone County, a resident who registered to vote at a state agency under the new motor-voter law was called to jury duty. During jury selection, it was discovered that the person wasn't a U.S. citizen, Ashcroft said.

Ashcroft requested Tuesday that the Justice Department take immediate action to ensure the integrity of the election in Missouri and other states with similar registration problems.

Ashcroft made the request in a letter to Attorney General Janet Reno. There was no immediate response from Reno.

"Since the American people rely on the election process to express their collective judgment about the nation's future direction, the prospect that the people's voice may be muffled or distorted through unauthorized voting is gravely troubling," Ashcroft wrote.

Ashcroft said southwest Missouri has a growing population of immigrants, some of whom aren't U.S. citizens and shouldn't be allowed to vote.

The National Voter Registration Act was enacted in 1993. Missouri's law was changed in 1994 to conform to the federal law.

Under the motor-voter law, people can register to vote at various state agencies such as welfare offices, in addition to the traditional practice of registering at county clerks' offices.

Ashcroft said the possibility for fraud exists because people who register at welfare offices and other agencies aren't required to show the same identification as those that register at county clerks' offices.

Rodney Miller, Cape Girardeau County clerk, said clerks are concerned that some agencies aren't as diligent in checking people's identification.

But Miller said the secretary of state's office is setting up a statewide computerized, voter registration network that should make it unlikely in the future that someone could vote illegally. Miller said the network could be on line throughout the state by next year.

Ashcroft said the secretary of state's office is responsible for coordination of voter registration at state government offices.

But Grebing said it is the job of county clerks to register voters and not the secretary of state's office. "We provide direction and assistance," he said.

Ashcroft said the problem isn't limited to Missouri.

In Los Angeles County, 727 people who weren't U.S. citizens registered to vote. In late September the California secretary of state ordered those people excluded from the voter rolls.

In Oklahoma City a local television station tested the registration process by registering employees' pets, including a dog named "Phred Kelly" and a cat named "Boo-Boo Kitti." They received voter registration cards in their pets' names.

Ashcroft said the registration law has invited the potential for widespread fraud.