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Judicial Watch* reported in October 2020 that 353 U.S. Counties in 29 States with Voter Registration Rates Exceeding 100%.

Judicial Watch announced today that a September 2020 study revealed that 353 U.S. counties had 1.8 million more registered voters than eligible voting-age citizens. In other words, the registration rates of those counties exceeded 100% of eligible voters. The study found eight states showing state-wide registration rates exceeding 100%: Alaska, Colorado, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and Vermont.

They appear to use official statistics that are publicly available from individual county websites.

Some media outlets are suggesting that this was strategically employed to gain more votes

Judicial Watch has released a comparison study of Census Bureau population statistics and state voter registration data to reveal a notable disparity. The watch dog group is now warning of potential voter fraud and “dirty” voter rolls.

More examples here, here, here, and here.

Is this alleged excess of eligible voters verifiable? Did an excess of eligible voters actually vote in the 2020 elections (clarification: not everyone will have voted so voting percentage is unlikely to be near 100%, but did supposed 'ghost voters' vote)? i.e., did this (or could this explain) alleged voter fraud?

*From their About section:

Judicial Watch, Inc. is a conservative, non-partisan educational foundation, which promotes transparency, accountability and integrity in government, politics and the law."

Oddthinking
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bondonk
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    Voters may be registered but not eligible due to having moved away, died, etc. Keep in mind that in many cases, ID will be required to vote, so while that certainly is not an optimal situation ( hence the lawsuit ), it doesn't necessarily have to have a great effect. – bytepusher Nov 09 '20 at 21:55
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    What does it mean to "exceed 100%"? (Or did you really mean "exceeed"?) – Daniel R Hicks Nov 09 '20 at 22:47
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    Their main complaint seems to be that states don't purge their voter rolls in a way Judicial Watch would like, leaving people who have died or moved to other states potentially eligible to receive ballots and theoretically leaving an opening for voter fraud. However, they haven't pointed to any substantial incidence of "ghost voters" or other fraud occurring and critics say they're just trying to deregister minorities who don't tend to vote in every election, which Judicial Watch denies. – jeffronicus Nov 09 '20 at 23:01
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    The claim here seems to be that the number of names registered exceeds the estimated number eligible due to a failure to keeps rolls up to date. So your question "Did an excess of eligible voters actually vote in the 2020 elections?" is not mentioned in your links. There are other claims elsewhere saying votes exceeded registrations in some places, but [those were either wrong or ignored same-day registrations](https://factcheck.afp.com/outdated-voter-registration-figures-fuel-false-fraud-claims) – Henry Nov 10 '20 at 01:29
  • Here's an analysis of one case: https://apnews.com/article/fact-check-wisconsin-vote-vs-voters-afs:Content:9672223878 – DJClayworth Nov 10 '20 at 04:35
  • This kind of claim from that source is nothing new https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/us-more-registered-voters-than-adults/ – Fizz Nov 10 '20 at 12:17
  • And more recently https://theintercept.com/2020/05/28/pennsylvania-voter-rolls-purge-judicial-watch/ ; https://www.coloradopolitics.com/news/judicial-watch-files-lawsuit-against-state-over-voter-rolls-but-its-misleading-expert-says/article_bff4452a-0756-11eb-8336-fb9cf431a649.html – Fizz Nov 10 '20 at 12:45
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    Actually Snopes has a 2nd piece on the most recent JW claims as well https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/ghost-voters-in-29-states/ From the latter, it seems that JW's methodology is the same: complaining about "inactive" but registered voters (who can only be legally be removed from the rolls under certain conditions, like not voting in two consecutive federal elections) – Fizz Nov 10 '20 at 12:52
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    @Fizz Those would be good answers. – DJClayworth Nov 10 '20 at 13:41
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    @jeffronicus Purging voter rolls is a touchy subject. Everytime they try, Democrats allege voter suppression. Then after the election, Republicans allege fraud. It's a crazy cycle. –  Nov 11 '20 at 06:31

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