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Rahim Jaffer waits to appear before the Standing Committee on Government Operations and Estimates on Parliament Hill i,June 17, 2010.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

Hilda Noskey was a grandmother from a remote Alberta first nation, and passed away some five years ago. James is a cat. Rahim Jaffer is a former Conservative MP.

All are among the so-called "supporters" signed up this year by the Alberta Liberals.

The official Opposition threw open its doors in late May, creating a category of "supporters," who didn't need to buy a membership, but could vote in its leadership race. It was a groundbreaking move meant to rejuvenate the party ranks, one that Liberal MP Scott Brison believes the federal party should consider.

Instead, the provincial Liberals have been left with a list that – while undoubtedly boasting more supporters than the party had a year ago – is nonetheless flooded with incorrect names. Party screening mechanisms catch some errors and pranks, such as that of the cat and of a rival Progressive Conservative campaign manager. Others squeak through, such as Mr. Jaffer, who is on the list. His father insists the former MP hasn't changed his stripes.

The private list, a portion of which was obtained by The Globe and Mail, also includes households with several "supporters" who don't recall ever signing up – many aren't aware the Liberals are even in a leadership race.

"I don't even know. We could vote, I guess, if anything comes in," shrugs Sandra Gladue, whose household had three members signed up.

Some names appear twice, others three times, and many have out-of-date information, even on a list started only three months ago. Taken together, it casts doubt on the support for a party that claimed to have about 27,000 supporters and members as of Thursday, 21,500 of them confirmed. More members were expected Friday when campaigns submit their list.

The five candidates vying for the party leadership will hand in lists of their own backers on Friday, the deadline for supporters who wish to vote online or by phone.

The current list is largely people who signed up with the party directly, but also includes 15,000 names of supporters from the campaign of Raj Sherman, a physician and former Tory booted from caucus after complaining about his government's inaction on health care.

The Sherman campaign, hoping to capitalize on the candidate's star power, will hand in the list of the rest of its 18,800 registered members and supporters on Friday. By comparison, about 4,500 votes were cast in the Official Opposition Liberal party's previous leadership race.

Party officials don't yet know why the list is swamped with wrong names, but "demon dials," or automated phone calls, are a likely culprit. The calls allow people to press a number and sign up their entire household.

Dr. Sherman is using the system, which calls every registered household in the province. At least one other campaign uses such calls, which go to Liberals and non-Liberals alike – Tory Premier Ed Stelmach got one from Dr. Sherman's campaign.

"I listened to a little bit of it, then I hung up," said Charles Carifelle, 28, whose household nevertheless has six people on the supporter list. Mr. Carifelle said he didn't press any buttons to sign up.

The campaign of Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald sent a letter of complaint to the party this week, saying the "inaccuracies bring into question the validity of the entire leadership race, since so much attention has been spent on signing up registered supporters."

"We didn't sign them up, and a lot of people are saying they didn't sign up," Mr. MacDonald added in an interview.

In a search for the source of the accidental Liberals, campaigns point a finger squarely at Dr. Sherman.

"It's Raj's list," said leadership hopeful Bill Harvey, a long-time supporter of former Liberal leader Laurence Decore. He suspects as much as half of the list is false. "I think it reflects poorly on the whole party."

Dr. Sherman, who frequently uses Twitter to urge people to sign up and "register your family," said it was too soon to jump to conclusions.

"We don't know from who those people came," Dr. Sherman said. "They're very valid concerns. Hey, listen, we share the same concern. Absolutely."

The errors are to be expected as the party rapidly expands, Liberal executive director Corey Hogan said. Outgoing leader David Swann still expects more than 20,000 votes to be cast in the leadership race, which concludes Sept. 10.

Party officials met with the campaigns Thursday afternoon to discuss the problem, and will be reviewing its lists – using follow-up phone calls – as it begins to mail out ballots next week.

"Really, no one's ever done this before," Mr. Hogan said. "So we don't know what to expect."

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