The most glaring issue is absentee balloting, which Hosemann reports has been growing. In the past election cycle, 22 counties in the primary and 13 in the general election had more than 10 percent of ballots cast by absentee.

While absentee balloting has long been used to accommodate those who could vote in person at the polls – such as the disabled, the elderly and people out of town on Election Day – the practice has the potential for abuse because of lax laws and lax enforcement.

Hosemann’s observers found such things as several voters witnessed by the same person or no reason stated for the absentee vote.

Another glaring problem is out-of-date voter rolls. Purging voter rolls is a difficult process that can have its own issues with political manipulation. However, the difficulty also has led to other problems.  Those problems are obvious.

Hosemann’s office reports that 16 counties have more registered voters than the 2010 Census Bureau figures indicate are eligible to vote.  And, back to the absentee voting problem, of those 16 counties with bloated voter rolls, seven also had over 10 percent of absentee ballots cast.

Hosemann also points out other issues, including improper voter assistance, campaigning at the polls and improper signage at the polls

The full story can be read here.