South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson (R) set off the panic button by claiming there was evidence that more than 900 dead people had voted. A preliminary review of six of these names by the South Carolina State Election Commission reveals six far more innocent explanations ranging from an absentee ballot cast by a voter who then died before election day; an error by a poll worker who mistakenly marked the voter as Jr. when the voter was in fact the III; stray marks on the voter registration list detected by the scanner; and poll managers incorrectly marking the name of the voter in question instead of the voter listed either above or below on the list.

So was there voter fraud in South Carolina?

Not according to state election officials. State Election Commission Director Marci Andino testified that an initial investigation into six names from a list of more than 900 allegedly dead voters has found each one was alive and eligible to vote at the time he or she did so. The agency said they will continue to investigate the entire list.

Ironically the suggestion of dead voters comes when the debate of the new voter-ID law is alive and well.

Sound too convenient? That's because it is. State officials said the new law is needed to prevent voter fraud. They have a case to prove.

The U.S. Justice Department has blocked implementation of the law, saying it amounts to a form of voter discrimination.

It appears as if the attorney general jumped the gun before a full investigation could be undertaken to clarify what really happened. A little due diligence would have gone a long way. Particularly when what hasn't been widely reported, is that the fall out lies with simple data-reporting problems and other errors.

There is nothing wrong with showing identity papers to vote. We do that for almost everything we register for in the state and in this country. But let's not skew numbers to make a case.