The dead walk ... to the polls

Texas Watchdog, an online journalism outfit in the Lonestar State, has published a report about thousands of names coexisting both in the death records and on the lists of Houston's registered voters. That sounds like the usual efficiency of any government agency, except that more than a few of the recently departed continued to exercise their democratic rights even after joining the choir unseen.

Linda Kay Hill, a homemaker and Louisiana native, died Aug. 2, 2006, of a heart attack, her husband recalled, and is buried at Houston Memorial Gardens in Pearland. But Harris County voter records indicate she –- or someone using her identity –- cast a ballot in the November election that year. Linda Hill of Woodwick Street voted in person on Election Day, records show. ...

Gloria Guidry passed away last May, but Harris County voting records indicate she cast a ballot in the March 2008 Democratic primary.

Such enthusiasm for the political process is, frankly, a bit unseemly among those who have gone to their final reward.

In a year when government officials are purging legitimate voters from the rolls almost as frantically as ACORN is adding bogus registrants and urging like-minded folks to vote early and vote often, the news of the voting dead makes it increasingly likely that we'll have yet another election steeped in chaos.

Anywhere the results are close, be prepared for allegations of a stolen election.