Black lab who died 14 years ago receives voter registration forms in the mail

The voter registration form arrived in the mail with some key information already filled in: Rosie Charlston's name was complete, as was her Seattle address. Problem is, Rosie was a black lab who died in 1998. A group called the Voter Participation Center has touted the distribution of some 5 million registration forms in recent weeks, targeting Democratic-leaning voting blocs such as unmarried women, blacks, Latinos and young adults. But residents and election administrators around the country also have reported a series of bizarre and questionable mailings addressed to animals, dead people, non-citizens and people already registered to vote. Brenda Charlston wasn't the only person to get documents for her pet: A Virginia man said similar documents arrived for his dead dog, Mozart, while a woman in the state got forms for her cat, Scampers. Every presidential election cycle brings with it a variety of registration drives targeting people who typically are underrepresented at the polls, and Republicans have long seized on sloppy or questionable registrations as a sign of potential fraud on the part of Democrats. It's an issue that is particularly sensitive in 2012. GOP political leaders have used fears of fraud to successfully push laws across the country that could make voting more difficult by requiring voters to show identification. Administrators in New Mexico, a potential swing state in the presidential race, warned that ineligible voters who complete the documents could make it onto the rolls. New Mexico is one of two states in which non-citizens can qualify for a driver's license by simply proving residency - not necessarily legal residency - and state elections officials have no way of verifying the legal status of those who file registration documents. Ken Ortiz, the chief of staff at the New Mexico secretary of state's office, said that some non-citizens have contacted the state asking why they received the forms when they'd previously been told that they could not vote.