Romney campaign requests probe into possible Va. voter fraud

(CBS News) Mitt Romney's presidential campaign is calling on Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli to investigate voter registration forms being sent to deceased relatives, children, and family pets from predominantly Democratic-leaning voting blocs, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reports.

After mailings from the D.C.-based nonprofit Voter Participation Center were exposed Sunday for being addressed to ineligible voters in Virginia, Kathryn Bieber, an attorney for the presumptive GOP nominee's campaign, called for an official probe in a letter to Cuccinelli's office and the State Board of Elections. Bieber said the forms violate "at least one and maybe several Virginia laws aimed at ensuring a fair election."

State Board of Elections deputy secretary Justin Riemer said recipients of the forms - pre-populated with names and addresses - include deceased infants, out-of-state family members, and non-U.S. citizens. According to the Times-Dispatch, the mailers were sent to "primarily Democratic-leaning voting blocs such as young adults, unmarried women, African-Americans and Latinos."

Bieber requested in the letter that registrars be required to reject pre-populated applications from the VPC and inspect eligibility of Virginia voters who have registered within the past two months. VPC CEO Page Gardner said the group mailed around 200,000 third-party registration forms to Virginia addresses in June, resulting in 15,026 newly registered voters as of July 18.

"Imperfections in the VPC vendors' lists - while regrettable and unfortunate - should not be the reason or the excuse to call an entire process that is working into question," the VPC said Monday in a letter posted to its website. The group argued the forms were approved by the State Board of Elections and "are the same applications that anyone can access at a local government office or on the Internet."