The Republican noise machine is going absolutely full-force after ACORN (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now), accusing them of committing vote fraud on a massive scale. You can’t turn on the radio or TV without hearing that millions of illegal votes will be cast for Obama because of ACORN’s massive vote fraud. If you Google “Acorn” and “rigging” you get over 50,000 hits.
The Republican National Committee website is headlining the effort. And they are issuing accusation press releases all day, every day, to drive this effort. They have a “fact sheet” listing numerous accusations.
Here’s the thing: ACORN is registering voters and is REQUIRED BY LAW to submit voter reg forms as the voter fills them out. Even so, the total “fraudulent” registrations they are accused of submitting nationwide is very low, maybe a few thousand. This is across the entire country when they have registered more than 1.3 million new voters. And this is all about registration forms that are filled out wrong by the voter, not ACORN, or a voter submitting more than one registration. This is what all the noise is about.
This is the key thing to know: None of these faulty registrations are capable of resulting in a single fraudulent vote. The problem is ACORN workers turning in forms that were filled out wrong, in some cases by the workers themselves to make it look like they were working when they weren’t. But vote fraud? The most common problems is duplication but if someone fills out 12 registrations, they’re still only goign to vote once. It is up to county election officials, not ACORN to worry about election fraud. And on a call today with ACORN they pointed out that while there are bad registration forms submitted, there is not one case of a person commiting actual vote fraud as a result of ACORN’s efforts. Not one, ever, anywhere.
So the question is, why? Why the huge hissy fit over ACORN?
Remember the Seeing the Forest Rule: When Republicans accuse, it is because it is what they are doing themselves.
Working on the Election Protection Wiki I am seeing more and more accusations of a massive nationwide effort to throw millions of voters off of the registration lists, and otherwise keep them from voting. One example accusation: states like Florida are purging voters whose names do not exactly match their Social Security or drivers license, so “Bob” on one and “Robert” on another disqualifies them from voting. Another, across the country the Republicans are accused of mailing faulty absentee voter applications to Democrats — they have incorrect addresses for sending the application, or when they can send them in they are thrown out for various reasons to do with the forms. Another: across the country students are being told they can’t vote. These are just a few examples — you may have heard that some states are even throwing people off voter registration roles if their homes are foreclosed.
Could THIS be why there are so many accusations against ACORN? To provide cover for the REAL voting scam that is going on?
Among the accusations is that they have “employed convicts to register people.” That sure SOUNDS bad, but so what? Also among the crimes they are accused of is submitting duplicate registrations for voters. Here is the thing to keep in mind, when a duplicate registration is submitted, the person is registered once and the duplicates are thrown out. Again, so what?
ACORN is an organization that helps poor and minority communities. One thing ACORN does is organize people to vote. They have submitted over 1.3 million new voter registrations this year. From their website,
ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation’s largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities.
This sounds exactly like something Repubicans would hate. A lot.
Among the hundreds and hundreds of stories, these today:
ACORN Investigations Provide Rallying Cry for Republicans
Is Acorn Stealing the Election?
Obama Hired ACORN For GOTV
It’s time to shut down ACORN, work against voter fraud
GOP Renews Complaints Over Voter Registrations
ACORN’s Crimes
RNC: CNN Exposes How ACORN Steals Votes & Ties to Obama
Jive Turkey Rides Again
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