Had these votes not been improperly included, President-elect Bush's narrow lead in Florida's popular vote would be greater.
"The Herald review included counties where voter lists could be obtained - about 8 percent of the 5.9 million votes cast on Nov. 7," the paper said.
"If the pattern found in the study is the same statewide, more than 5,000 felons likely cast illegal ballots."
Florida law prevents felons from voting, unless they go through the long process required to have their voting rights restored.
Most of the illegal votes, 330 in all, were cast in Palm Beach and Duval counties, both of which refused to participate in a statewide effort to purge felons, dead people and double registrants from the rolls.
"This just goes to show that the most expensive voting equipment in the world is worthless when the voting rolls are that filthy, said Deborah Phillips, president of Voting Integrity Project, a nonprofit group in Arlington, Va.
"It's just an invitation to lower the integrity of the election."
According to the newspaper, the felons who voted include 62 robbers, 56 drug dealers, 45 killers, 16 rapists, and seven kidnappers. Nearly 75 percent of the felons were registered Democrats.
"There are a ton of us out there," said William Herman, who was convicted of negligent homicide with a motor vehicle. "It shouldn't be that way, but when they give you a voter registration card, hey, what are you supposed to do?"
A sex offender who voted is Clarence Eden Williams, 77, of Pahokee. His son, Clarence Williams III, couldn't believe his father had voted.
"He's got Alzheimer's and he can't even carry on a conversation anymore."
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