Voter registration problems widening in Florida What first appeared to be an isolated problem in one Florida county has now spread statewide, with election officials in nine counties informing prosecutors or state election officials about questionable voter registration forms filled out on behalf of the Republican Party of Florida. State Republican officials already have fired the vendor it had hired to register voters, and took the additional step of filing an election fraud complaint against the company, Strategic Allied Consulting, with state officials. That complaint was handed over Friday to state law-enforcement authorities. A spokesman for Florida's GOP said the matter was being treated seriously. "We are doing what we can to find out how broad the scope is," said Brian Burgess, the spokesman. Florida is the battleground state where past election problems led to the chaotic recount that followed the 2000 presidential election. The Florida Democratic Party called on the state to "revoke" the ability of state Republicans to continue to register voters while the investigation continues. Oct. 9 is the deadline to register to vote in the Nov. 6 presidential election. "It is clear that the Republican Party of Florida does not have the institutional controls in place to be trusted as a third-party, voter registration organization," said Scott Arceneaux, executive director of the Florida Democratic Party. The Republican Party of Florida has paid Strategic Allied Consulting more than $1.3 million, and the Republican National Committee used the group for work in Nevada, North Carolina, Colorado and Virginia. The company said earlier this week that it was cooperating with elections officials in Florida. It initially said the suspect forms were turned in by one person, who has been fired. "Strategic has a zero-tolerance policy for breaking the law," Fred Petti, a company attorney, said Thursday. But late Friday the company put out a lengthy statement on its website and said that it was aware of questionable forms in other counties and that it confirmed in each of those counties that the problem was with "one individual." Strategic said it had more than 2,000 people working in the state of Florida.