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FBI Probing ACORN Nationwide
The FBI is looking into whether ACORN helped foster voter registration fraud across the country, the Associated Press reports.
According to the wire service, the Feds are looking at recent raids on ACORN offices for evidence of a coordinated nationwide scheme.
An ACORN office in Las Vegas was raided earlier this month by Nevada state officials.
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Josh
Zachary
As I understand it, Acorn, in accordance with the law, reported the problem first. Registered the concern that some of the people they hired were filling out forms with fictional names, and they wanted the whole matter looked into because ACORN is the victim.
Am I wrong about that?
October 16, 2008 2:09 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nope, you're right. And by law, they have to turn in every one they get. I think if they've done anything wrong, it's keeping these people on their payroll after seeing the fraudulent applications they brought in.
October 16, 2008 2:13 PM | Reply | Permalink
Actually, they fired all the fakers. So there. I doubt the FBI will find anything, but that's not what they want. They want to discredit ACORN and sow doubt among the populace. It's what Republicans do.
October 16, 2008 3:06 PM | Reply | Permalink
Nope, you're right. And by law, they have to turn in every one they get. I think if they've done anything wrong, it's keeping these people on their payroll after seeing the fraudulent applications they brought in.
October 16, 2008 2:14 PM | Reply | Permalink
Hopefully, this Republican voter suppression effort is too little, too late.
Ironically, the best thing going for America is that George Bush is clearly sick of being presidictator. He just wants to get away from Washington and escape to Paraguay, where he can sip whiskey with old Nazis and tell big lies about his glorious pseudo-life.
October 16, 2008 2:10 PM | Reply | Permalink
By the way, here's a really good description of ACORN:
http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Association+of+Community+Organizations+for+Reform+Now
Not exactly the threat to America that Republicans would like us to think.
October 16, 2008 2:23 PM | Reply | Permalink
http://www.miamiherald.com/news/politics/AP/story/727604.html
Florida's Republican .... governor says his fellow Republicans may be exaggerating claims of voter fraud in the state. Crist said in the closing days of any campaign "there are some who sort of enjoy chaos.There may be more of that going on than fraud," he said.
October 16, 2008 2:28 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yesterday, Minnesota Public Radio did a piece on how the Acorn Registration drive is working this year in Minnesota. It would be archived at their site. According to the Hennepin Co. Election Official interviewed, there have been many fewer "bad" cards coming in this year than before.
This may be the result of a new law passed last session authored by State Senator Linda Berglin of Minneapolis, which makes it illegal to pay people canvasing for new registrations on a piece work basis. If they pay, they have to pay by the hour, not by the number of cards collected. Linda apparently got support from the local ACORN to pass the provision.
Linda Berglin, A DFL'er, represents an inner city district and has been in the State Senate since 1973, and I am certain that if someone contacts her at her State Capitol Office that the language of her provision could be widely spread about. It eliminates the incentive for bad cards being turned in, and it seems to work as intended. I'd recommend handing this information off to people running for State Legislature -- including the name of the Minnesota State Senator who authored the bill -- as getting this "target" off the table next year would be useful.
October 16, 2008 2:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
ACORN needs to stop the practice of paying people bounties for registrations, and the Minnesota experience is just further proof. The problems with paying people this way are so well-documented and pervasiv, that there's no way to justify its continuance. They don't need a law passed to do it - they just need to do it.
October 16, 2008 3:08 PM | Reply | Permalink
ACORN should immediately hire David Iglesias to work on their legal team with the FBI.
It would make a huge statement about just exactly what is going on here.
October 16, 2008 2:33 PM | Reply | Permalink
Why Is the Republican Party Trying To Disenfranchise Joe the Plumber?
Seems that Joe the millionaire plumber may not get to vote at all. In fact, according to the latest Republican scheme to disenfranchise voters, he may be guilty of voter fraud.
On 10/14/08, the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Cincinnati sided with a lawsuit initiated by the Ohio Republican Party, stating that Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner must now check a voter's registration against the information on their driver's license and Social Security database.
According to Linda Howe, executive director of the Lucas County Ohio Board of Elections, a Samuel Joseph Worzelbacher, whose address and age match Joe the Plumber's, voted in his first primary on March 4, 2008, registering as a Republican.
The problem is that Joe spells his last name with U - Wurzelbacher - instead of an O. So the information on Joe's voter registration does NOT match the information on his driver's license and Social Security database. And according to the Republican Party, Joe the Millionaire Plummer should not only be stricken from the voting rolls and become ineligible to vote in the upcoming presidential election, but ultimately he should be prosecuted for voting fraud.
October 16, 2008 2:41 PM | Reply | Permalink
rstephen,
Where is that information on Joe documented? Is it out there in the Ohio or National press?
October 16, 2008 4:05 PM | Reply | Permalink
It is in this in the NY times blog piece linked from the TPM main page now. Say it isn't so Joe - you an unlicensed plumber and owe taxes too?
http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/16/joe-in-the-spotlight/?hp
October 16, 2008 4:30 PM | Reply | Permalink
Good Lord, this is reaching preposterous proportions -- just as the GOP wants. What, exactly, would be the the aim of a "nationwide scam" to submit obviously phony voter-registration forms for Mickey Mouse and Company in various states?
As I suggested here , in a fun way, obviously and absurdly phony voter-registration forms do not produce fraudulent votes. Mickey Mouse and Clark Kent are not going to show up to vote -- especially if there's a cat or Kryptonite at the polls...
That's not to say it's not a problem, because it can distract elections administrators from important pre-election work.
This is of a piece with the GOP suits in Ohio, trying to purge the rolls (illegally, because it's not allowed under HAVA) by highlighting database mismatches.
Why is this an effective strategy for the GOP? Two reasons. First, it mucks up the election machinery in places where D's are registering a lot of folks. And second, it stirs up anger that (poor and black people, in the case of the ACORN allegations) certain undesirables will steal the election.
But we know all this. Unfortunately, we have to use resources to combat it. It's part of the GOP's GOTV strategy.
October 16, 2008 3:37 PM | Reply | Permalink
The AP refers to "voter registration forms - including some signed `Mickey Mouse' or other fictitious characters.".
A ten-second search on whitepages.com gives the lie to the "fictitious" claim. At the very least, there are 25 people who choose to list themselves as Mickey Mouse, including two in Florida, and apparently another (at least) in Orlando not listed in the phone book.
Now, whether they were joking with the phone company or that is really their name is anyone's guess. "Mouse" is a rare but not unknown last name. And I admit the Acorn forms in question were likely invalid. But let's not make fun of what may be many living, breathing, human registered voters around the country, shall we? We can't choose the name we were born with.
AP really should spend a few seconds on research.
October 16, 2008 3:53 PM | Reply | Permalink