KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- Federal lawyers are seeking to dismiss a 2005 lawsuit that accuses the Missouri secretary of state's office of mishandling voter rolls. The U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit contended that Missouri election officials did not follow a federal law that requires reasonable efforts be made to remove ineligible people from the rolls. The suit contends that because that did not happen, people who have moved or died might still be eligible to vote. Federal lawyers wrote that the evidence currently in hand is dated and might not reflect the current situation in Missouri. In 2007, the case became embroiled in the controversy over the firing of U.S. attorneys by President George W. Bush's administration. Former Republican U.S. Attorney Todd Graves said he clashed with top Justice officials when he questioned the merits of the suit. Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, a Democrat, told The Kansas City Star on Thursday that the lawsuit had been "unnecessary, unwise and costly." "The decision to drop this suit is long overdue," she said. "A prior ruling found my office not only complied with federal law but also went beyond its requirements through our many efforts to assist county clerks and election boards with their responsibilities." It was unclear Friday if the lawsuit had been dismissed. Case filing information for the federal courts was inaccessible over the Internet. The case started after The Associated Press reported in October 2004 that voter registration rolls in numerous Missouri counties exceeded the number of voting-age residents. The report was cited in the Justice Department lawsuit. The federal lawsuit said that 29 election jurisdictions had more registered voters in November 2004 than they did voting-age residents. The high mark was in Reynolds County, where voter rolls were at 151 percent of the county's 2004 census for voting age population. A federal trial judge in 2007 sided with state officials and found that Missouri had complied with the National Voter Registration Act, but a federal appeals court kicked it back to the trial court. In October 2008, a federal judge refused to permit attorneys to conduct further investigation for the case. __ Information from: The Kansas City Star,
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