SIX ALABAMA COUNTIES have more registered voters than voting-age people. Plus this: “Well, considering a dog here in Pike County received a personally addressed voter registration form this month from the Alabama Democratic Party, we’d have to say there’s legitimate cause for concern.”

What’s the big deal? We’ve had “yellow dog Democrats” in the South for years. But I wonder if the voting system is like the credit system, with same-day registration and limited ID requirements kind of like those “no doc” loans, and questionable voting machines being like the dubious credit-rating schemes. As with the credit system, lots of insiders are making out too well from the current system to want to fix it, but when the inevitable crash comes the rest of us will pay the price . . . . Or is that analogy too much of a stretch?