Does Voter Fraud From ACORN Grow?

(CBS)  CBS News Investigative Producer Laura Strickler wrote this story for CBSNews.com.

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As questions about fraudulent voter registrations at ACORN offices grow nationwide, the organization today defended its efforts to sign up 1.3 million people, a record number of new voters for the upcoming presidential election. CBS News Chief Investigative Correspondent, Armen Keteyian reported on the growing allegations last week.

"That there can be errors in the process we freely admit that, but we are fiercely patriotic. The voter franchise was bought in blood," said Reverend Gloria Swierenga, director of Maryland ACORN, invoking the names of civil rights workers who died for voting rights in the 1960's.

ACORN officials say after they collect new voter registrations they verify them and then red flag any suspicious applications before they turn them over to election officials across the country. They say they are bound by law not to throw the applications away no matter how absurd the applicants, be they Mickey Mouse or the names of Dallas Cowboy football players. One former election official who spoke on behalf of ACORN said it would be highly inappropriate for outside organizations to judge the validity of voter applications.

But when asked what percentage of the 1.3 million registrations were red flagged, the organization did not know. Kevin Whelan, one of the ACORN employees who runs the voter registration program said he would follow up later with a response, "You know I don't want to give a number that I can't back up, I will get the most exact information to date…it's a very small minority." Later Whelan followed up to say that ACORN believes the error rate is less than 1%.

Earlier this morning, former senators John Danforth and Warren Rudman who are affiliated with the McCain campaign held a press conference on ACORN voter fraud but refused to let ACORN officials attend according to ACORN employees.

The McCain campaign continued to hammer Obama for his connections to the community based organization. On the Rush Limbaugh show, Sarah Palin said, "Let's talk quickly about ACORN and the unconscionable situation that we are facing right now with voter fraud, given the ties between Obama and ACORN and the money his campaign has sent them...for shame if the mainstream media were to cover this one up."

Meanwhile ACORN released video of John McCain speaking at a 2006 rally in Florida on immigration reform that was sponsored by ACORN.


In the video McCain praises the room full of activists who are shouting in Spanish, "Yes we can," which has now become a rallying cry for Obama's campaign. McCain tells the group to loud applause, "What makes America special is what's in this room tonight."

"He was quite friendly to our ACORN members at that rally, so we just assumed he was a friend of ours before he decided he wasn't, " said Steve Kest National Director of ACORN,

To punctuate the point, ACORN put out a press release with the headline, "ACORN to McCain: Have You Lost That Loving Feeling?"
By Laura Strickler

[joezap5]

Excellent point Bandit. Also, The alleged fraud was being committed by people who filled out the applications not by ACORN itself. To commit this "fraud" you don''t even need ACORN!

[bandit712]

Asking again. How hard is it for a registered voter to cast an absentee vote through the mail? Do they not just have to give a valid address when registering Mickey Mouse then that same person that fraudulently signed the registration could cast the vote? How hard would that be? Is this off base??

[joezap5]

Sorry Downsteamjimbob, apparently reading is much more difficult for you than getting talking points from an AM Radio Goebels personality. I said the fact that the GOP purged (as in removed) good red blooded AMERICANS from the voter roles in Florida was Sickly ironic. The GOP I said was- "Anti-American, Voter suppressing, Civil Rights destroying".

[downsteamjim]

To JoeSap5: So not allowing ACORN to violate election laws is anti Civil Rights. Fantastic spin.

[joezap5]

Acorn was the victim of their own stupid quota system. They paid the inner city poor by the hour and "suggested" (quota) that about 14 new registrants per day would be acceptable.

If you''''ve ever registered voters in districts that are being combed by many political organizations at once, during a hectic political season, you see that the region quickly becomes saturated. They should''''ve known that once their cash paid, low income, workers were striking out they would resort to fudging the forms.

The fact that the Acorn employees registered fictitious names like Zooopy Zooopster And John Q. Public, in no way comes close to voter fraud! The Irony is that Acorn, in a way, is the one who was defrauded. But, by being that stupid, they deserve it.

The worst part of the Acorn affair is that the disgusting, Anti-American, Voter suppressing, Civil Rights destroying GOP is able to lie and use this to their advantage.

After Kathleen Harris & Co. purged tens of thousands of legitimately registered voters in Florida In 2000 (An election Gore "lost" by less than 270 votes), the GOP will try to claim that this is the reason McCain is going to loose in a landslide election. Sick Irony...

[concernedc-2009]

Will Acorn also release the video of last falls meeting wherein they stated they would help Obama win? Un-edited; complete and full; uninterrupted feed?

Quite illuminating, isn''t it? If they are indeed non-partisan, why not show both video''s?

[bandit712]

Question. I''m honestly not sure. How hard is it for a registered voter to cast an absentee vote through the mail? Do they not just have to give a valid address when registering Mickey Mouse then that same person that fraudulently signed the registration could cast the vote? How hard would that be?

[bandit712]

Question. I''m honestly not sure. How hard is it for a registered voter to cast an absentee vote through the mail? Do they not just have to give a valid address when registering Mickey Mouse then that same person that fraudulently signed the registration could cast the vote? How hard would that be?

[downsteamjim]

To colt8881: That is why Democrats fight to allow people to vote without an ID.

[kc629]

Show us where the GOP had stopped people from voting, any proof? Or is that just something you make up to cast dispersionis on the GOP?

Posted by guysdigdirt

There are plenty of newspaper and magazine articles and even a pretty interesting book by the guy up in NH who went to jail (How to Rig an Election) about Republican dirty tricks designed to keep people from voting. If you are too lazy to look it up, I can probably come up with some sites for you.


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Posted by hatesthecolt at 04:09 PM : Oct 15, 2008


first of all if the 2000 and 2004 elections are not proof then you are an idiot, please tell me why your God fearing GOP is against voting machines that keep a paper trail?