Also, this year's surge in newly registered voters has come largely from urban areas that are predominantly Democratic and black or Latino. In Cleveland and surrounding Cuyahoga County alone, registration has increased five-fold, officials say. Democrats fear GOP machinations to disenfranchise these voters. Republicans fear the new voter lists are rife with fraud.

Meanwhile, Missouri GOP leaders accuse St. Louis Democrats of gathering flawed and sometimes fraudulent new voter registration applications. In the mayoral primary in 2001, Republicans noted, a number of dead people turned up on city voter rolls, including at least three deceased alderman.

Mike Lueken, one of the two GOP members of the four-member St. Louis Election Board, said there had been "no intent to commit fraud" on the part of the voter registration groups. "The rolls are generally in good shape," he said. "The quality of the cards has been high after we met with [the voter registration groups] to discuss early problems."