JEFFERSON CITY – Robin Carnahan’s complete failure to perform the duties of her office and meet federal voter database requirements has led to a full-scale rebellion by fellow Democrat and Boone County Clerk Wendy Noren who has repeatedly snubbed her nose at Missouri’s chief elections official.

Carnahan is pleading with the U.S. Justice Department to force Boone County to join a statewide voter database even though it was the Justice Department that sued Carnahan last Fall for failing to take reasonable steps to update the state’s voter rolls to ensure that dead people and former residents of the state are no longer included. The federal lawsuit divided Carnahan and fellow Democrat Jay Nixon who refused to sign a consent decree on the issue for the Justice Department. The pending Justice Department lawsuit is further complicated by Carnahan’s failure to meet a federal and state deadline that required a centralized voter registration database to be operational by January 1.

“Robin Carnahan has shown complete incompetence in updating Missouri’s voter rolls and ensuring the integrity of our election system and things look to be getting even worse with this latest episode,” said Paul Sloca, communications director for the Missouri Republican Party. “Not only has Carnahan’s lack of leadership resulted in a federal lawsuit and rejection by a member of her own party, but Missouri’s election system is becoming more chaotic by the day as she continues to fumble around.”

In a blatant display of hypocrisy, Carnahan issued a statement in which she attempted to blame Noren for jeopardizing the integrity and accuracy of the same database that Carnahan failed to update by January 1 as required by federal law. While the database was supposed to be up and running statewide on the first day of the year, Carnahan’s office hopes to have it up and running by August.

“Robin Carnahan’s ineptitude and lack of leadership is an embarrassment to the state of Missouri and directly threatens Missourians’ confidence in our election system,” Sloca said. “This infighting shows a complete lack of confidence in Robin Carnahan’s ability to act as our state’s chief elections official and will serve only to compound what has been a festering problem for months. Real leaders take responsibility in a situation like this, but Carnahan is much more content to point fingers and shift the blame.”