Nov. 1 (Bloomberg) -- The intensity of the presidential race between Barack Obama and John McCain has spurred legal maneuvering and a barrage of charges of fraud and voter suppression in states that may determine the result if the election is close.

In New Mexico, Republican lawyer Patrick J. Rogers, a prominent figure in the 2006 firing of a U.S. prosecutor, has been accused of hiring a private detective to intimidate voters.

Republicans in Ohio are airing radio ads asking if the state's electoral votes could be ``stolen.'' They have focused much of their ire on Acorn, a group that acknowledges some of its paid workers registered non-existent voters.

And in Florida, both sides have expressed concern over long lines in early voting that might carry over to Nov. 4, when most Americans go to the polls.

Voting experts say they are mainly worried about disenfranchisement. ``There's far greater empirical evidence that problems with voter lists'' and other issues could ``block eligible voters,'' said Michael Waldman, director of the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University.

In New Mexico, Rogers and other Republicans charged at an Oct. 16 news conference that fraudulent votes were cast in the state's June 3 primary and said there are phony registrants for the general election. They said they have evidence of fraud and identity theft and urged law enforcement officials to investigate.

``The actual documentation they presented doesn't show that,'' said Steve Allen, president of Common Cause of New Mexico. ``Most of the voter registration forms that they said were fraudulent were actually legitimate.''

Asked to comment, Rogers said, ``It's right before the election. We are working real hard to get out the vote.''

Firing of Iglesias

He was among Republicans who complained to the Bush administration's Justice Department in 2006 that David Iglesias, the U.S. attorney in Albuquerque, wasn't prosecuting voter fraud. Two years later, a department review concluded Iglesias acted properly. He was among nine U.S. attorneys who were dismissed in a controversy that led to the resignation of Attorney General Alberto Gonzales.

The current activities of Rogers and his allies have prompted a federal lawsuit by voters who accuse the Republicans of illegal intimidation, including the hiring of a private eye.

The Republicans ``exposed themselves to charges of voter intimidation,'' Iglesias said in an interview. They ``don't understand the dangers involved in investigating voter fraud when you are not the government. You cannot use prosecutions for partisan reasons.''

Alleged Intimidation

The Justice Department is looking into the alleged intimidation, a potential federal civil rights violation.

As for Acorn, short for Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, the group has turned over hundreds of thousands of defective or suspect voter applications. The Federal Bureau of Investigation is trying to determine whether there was any deliberate fraud.

Voting experts are skeptical, noting that false or incomplete registrations don't mean ineligible ballots actually will be cast.

``There is no real evidence that real fraud takes place,'' said Robert Brandon, president and co-founder of the non-partisan Fair Elections Legal Network in Washington. Such charges only ``discourage people from voting.''

Republican Secretary of State Todd Rokita of Indiana is among those alleging fraud against Acorn, particularly in the Democratic stronghold of Lake County that is home to the steel towns of Gary, Hammond and East Chicago. He said 61 percent of 1,438 voter registration applications submitted by Acorn were defective.

Acorn Battle

``This is not simply registration fraud,'' Rokita said in an Oct. 22 letter to local law enforcement officials. ``This is voter fraud.''

Acorn spokesman Brian Kettenring said state law means ``you have to turn in every card even if you know one to be bogus.''

In Ohio, Republicans have aired a radio ad asking listeners: ``Could Ohio's election be stolen?'' The ad accuses Democratic Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner of concealing evidence of hundreds of thousands of ``questionable'' registrations.

A Republican-sponsored Web site invites voters to volunteer as poll watchers on Election Day to spot fraud. ``We will win this election despite Democrat efforts to steal Ohio,'' said Kevin DeWine, the state party's deputy chairman.

In Florida, about 12,000 voters have been identified as not matching either election rolls, motor-vehicle registrations or Social Security databases. Still, officials in a number of counties will allow voters to establish their identities at the polling place and cast provisional ballots. That could contribute to long lines on Nov. 4.

Extended Hours

Florida's Republican governor, Charlie Crist, already extended early voting from eight to 12 hours to accommodate long lines in pre-Election Day balloting.

And Florida isn't alone. Among the cities that have aroused concerns are Cleveland, Denver and Richmond, the capital of Virginia where Obama is the first Democratic presidential candidate to contest the state in more than a generation.

On Oct. 29, Colorado's Republican secretary of state, Mike Coffman, agreed to give as many as 30,000 purged voters provisional ballots to settle litigation charging that he had illegally removed the names from the rolls.

These ballots must also be counted and Coffman, who himself is running for Congress, is required to notify the plaintiffs of any that are deemed invalid.

At an emergency hearing convened yesterday by a federal judge in Denver, Coffman was ordered to stop purging more voters. Common Cause of Colorado, which brought the case, sought the hearing after Coffman was quoted in yesterday's Rocky Mountain News as saying the settlement didn't prevent him from continuing to purge voters.

To contact the reporter on this story: James Rowley at jarowley@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: November 1, 2008 00:01 EDT