The Republican Party\ufffds interest in rooting out voter fraud has been encouraged by the White House. In a speech last April, Karl Rove, Mr. Bush\ufffds senior political adviser, told a group of Republican lawyers that election integrity issues were an \ufffdenormous and growing\ufffd problem.

\ufffdWe\ufffdre, in some parts of the country, I\ufffdm afraid to say, beginning to look like we have elections like those run in countries where the guys in charge are colonels in mirrored sunglasses,\ufffd Mr. Rove said. \ufffdI mean, it\ufffds a real problem.\ufffd