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A large-scale federal and state investigation into voter registration fraud in six South Dakota counties is under way, state Attorney General Mark Barnett said Thursday.

The two-week-old investigation, now being led by the FBI, has uncovered the likely registration of dead people, people not old enough to vote and people who appear not to exist, Barnett said.

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The investigation currently focuses on a single person who is from South Dakota, but Barnett cautioned, "it could expand."

"There's one particular person who's been very busy. The question is, were there others involved?" Barnett said.

Barnett said the investigation "could generate some state issues" and that the short time remaining before the Nov. 5 election makes the matter urgent.

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The South Dakota Democratic Party has launched a massive voter registration drive on South Dakota's nine reservations in preparation for the blockbuster Nov. 5, 2002, general election, which will include every elected South Dakota state and federal office except one U.S. Senate seat.

Democratic Party spokeswoman Sarah Feinberg said party officials became aware of the situation after visiting with the Dewey County auditor about problematic absentee ballots. Party officials reviewed the ballots and contacted the U.S. attorney, Feinberg said.

The party itself is not implicated in any wrongdoing, she said.

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