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A Dose of Reality on the ACORN Hysteria
It's worth taking a moment to step back from the slew of charges leveled over the last week at ACORN, the community-organizing group that Republicans and the McCain campaign have been trying to turn into a bogeyman for fears about vote fraud (and, of course, tie to Barack Obama).
The GOP has accused ACORN of submitting fraudulent voter registration forms numbering in the hundreds or thousands, in battleground states including Ohio, Indiana, Nevada, and Missouri.
But the most important point that's getting lost in the Fox-generated hysteria is that, according to voting experts, even when fraudulent voter registration forms are submitted, they virtually never lead to fraudulent votes being cast. Richard Hasen, a law professor at Loyola and an authority on voting law, wrote in a 2007 op-ed published last year in the Dallas Morning News and noted recently by TPM, that "the idea of massive polling-place fraud (through the use of inflated voter rolls) is inherently incredible," because of the sheer logistical challenges it would require to carry out on a large scale.
In many states, ACORN is required by law to turn in all the forms it collects, though the law differs from state to law, according to experts.
ACORN has consistently said that it flags suspicious forms for election officials. Indeed, in Nevada where last week an ACORN office was raided in an investigation headed by the Secretary of State, ACORN was already cooperating with authorities.
According to a statement from the group which has not been disputed by state officials, in July, ACORN set up a meeting with county elections officials and the Secretary of State's office to urge them to take action on information ACORN had provided. Since then, "ACORN has provided officials with copies and--in some cases--second copies of many of the personnel records and the 'problem card packages' and cover sheets with which we originally identified the problem cards."
It's also worth noting that similar allegations were made against ACORN in the last few election cycles, and several investigations were conducted, none of which found evidence of widespread voter fraud. Many of these were conducted by US attorneys, who were pressured by GOP political figures to investigate the issue, then fired after they failed to come up with sufficient evidence.
So as the GOP campaign to make an issue out of ACORN continues -- and we'll be keeping you posted as it does -- remember that the number of fraudulent votes that will be cast in November as a result of the group's voter-registration activities is close to zero. But the number of valid voters who could potentially have obstacles placed in their way of voting, as a result of the Republican campaign, is far larger.
So if what you're saying is correct, one would have to believe that Fox is actually shining a spotlight on ACORN's voter registration process and inventing a fictional consequence, thus creating hysteria over nothing.
No way.
October 13, 2008 3:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
That is exactly what is happening. The actual reality is actually not complicated, so even you should be able to grasp it. Pay attention:
Anyone can register to vote as many times as they want. What will happen is that the election officials who deal with voter registration will eliminate duplications AS A MATTER OF ROUTINE.
It's that simple.
If a voter-registration group, through its outreach workers, registers voters, it MUST give the completed registration forms to the voter registration officials as a matter of LAW. It is NOT their role to eliminate potential duplicates; their job is simply to register voters.
If there is more than one registration for a voter, regardless reason, the registration officals will eliminate the duplicates AS A METTER OF ROUTINE.
It's that simple.
In sum: there is no problem -- except for the REPUBLICAN LIE that there's a problem.
October 14, 2008 4:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
"But the most important point that's getting lost in the Fox-generated hysteria is that, according to voting experts, even when fraudulent voter registration forms are submitted, they virtually never lead to fraudulent votes being cast."
Fox almost always neglects the important point in a story that isn't spinning their way.
This is Karl Rove's baby. When he goes into the Diebold clockworks to entice collusion in vote flipping schemes, this is the "meat" for the dumb animals he lures, isn't it?
October 13, 2008 3:35 PM | Reply | Permalink
Excellent post Zachary, I particularly like the links and descriptions of how this faked up controversy has unfolded recently.
I posted a reader blog about this early Sunday morning HERE. It made the recommended list on Sunday but then dropped off while the reader blogs were inaccessible later in the day.
The main point of the post was to point to an internal letter from ACORN directors, Bertha Lewis and Steve Kest, to political allies. I found this letter in Marc Ambinder's blog at the Atlantic
One critical point the letter makes is how many voters they have registered this election cycle and what demographics:
They also have a factsheet with eight single-paragraph talking points to use to rebut the recent allegations and misinformation about their activities. This section covers most of the information in Zachary's post with additional details.
If you need a handy reference sheet to use when discussing this, I suggest you follow the link to the Atlantic and print out the ACORN letter.
October 13, 2008 4:51 PM | Reply | Permalink
In my last post, the next to last paragraph should read, "They also have a factsheet with eight single-paragraph talking points to use to rebut the recent allegations and misinformation about their activities. This section covers most of the information in second half of Zachary's post, with additional details."
I found Zachary's post very useful for tying everything together.
October 13, 2008 4:57 PM | Reply | Permalink
Which states require registering organization to turn in all completed forms? Any high-profile raids of ACORN in those states would seem prima facie to involve election-tampering. (And given the predominance of minorities in ACORN's work, and the fact the voting is a civil right, I would go for "under color of law" and mandatory federal time...)
October 13, 2008 8:07 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe ACORN is on the up-and-up. However, I've been reading reports that registrations are being submitted using fake addresses, such as those for empty storefronts, Now, couldn't a person register to vote using such an address, then show up and try to vote, citing such an address, even though he really doesn't live there? How likely could such an incident be?
October 13, 2008 11:29 PM | Reply | Permalink
I believe ACORN is on the up-and-up. However, I've been reading reports that registrations are being submitted using fake addresses, such as those for empty storefronts, Now, couldn't a person register to vote using such an address, then show up and try to vote, citing such an address, even though he really doesn't live there? How likely could such an incident be?
October 13, 2008 11:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Argh. Sorry for the double post.
October 13, 2008 11:32 PM | Reply | Permalink
It's apparent that ACORN has secret ties to William Ayers that Barack Obama is trying to conceal.
October 14, 2008 3:44 AM | Reply | Permalink
The ACORN kerflufflel is intended to set up a pre-emptive camouflage/counter-charge against the inevitable (and justified) opposition complaints of GOPuke post-election fraud and vote theft.
Think "false equivalences."
The Pukes are ahead, of course, because the fears they seek to foster are committed, presumably, before the election actually occurs. While the (actual) GOPuke thefts occur on and AFTER the 'election.'
October 14, 2008 8:15 AM | Reply | Permalink
What is the likely scenario?
I gather Acorn hires poor people to register voters.
Understandably, those hired would like the money.
Understandably also, those hired do not want to pester their friends, or pester people who might respond angrily or not at all.
So, understandably, a few of those hired by Acorn collect their pay, but then fake their work.
Such faked voter registrations are not intended to have someone actually vote -- the paid employee only wants a little money.
The nature of these registration errors would not result in improper voting.
Indeed, faked data crops up in any survey work of human populations.
It's often difficult to detect, which is why Acorn itself, not some other agency, detects these problems. In agricultural surveys, a clerk in Cheyenne, Wyoming, noticed an employee wanting to collect money, but embarrassed to confront her neighbors with questionnaires, the employee forged the questionnaires.
Complaints like those against Acorn originate from lazy thinking,
not thinking through the lineage of their complaints, and
relying on the magnanimous problems presented by the defendants themselves.
This same lazy thinking gets applied to evolution where honest scientists debate each other in journals,
from which complainers get their arguments rather than originate their own arguments.
Such complainers plow a furrow already plowed;
so rather than enhance already planted crops,
they can only destroy crops.
While such vehement lazy thinking can cause great trouble for others, such thinking either amounts to rationalization or untempered anger.
If tempered, such complainers would instead say things like "Obama, through his support of FISA, supports spying on Americans", or
"Obama, supporting his Hollywood connections,
will support copyright laws tantamount to supporting monopolies."
October 14, 2008 10:14 AM | Reply | Permalink
Let's call this what it really is, too. This is a preemptive attempt to illegitimize the election results which are more and more looking as if they're going to swing towards Obama. It's meant to get people riled up and bitter and to feel that the election was stolen from McCain, even if it wasn't.
October 14, 2008 11:08 AM | Reply | Permalink