[Jonathan Adler, November 3, 2006 at 1:46pm] Trackbacks
"The Acorn Indictments":

The WSJ editorializes on the recent indictments of four Acorn voter registration workers in Missouri for submitting fraudulent registrations.

We wish this were an aberration, but allegations of fraud have tainted Acorn voter drives across the country. Acorn workers have been convicted in Wisconsin and Colorado, and investigations are still under way in Ohio, Tennessee and Pennsylvania.

The good news for anyone who cares about voter integrity is that the Justice Department finally seems poised to connect these dots instead of dismissing such revelations as the work of a few yahoos. After the federal indictments were handed up in Kansas City this week, the U.S. Attorney's office said in a statement that "This national investigation is very much ongoing."

Related Posts (on one page):

  1. "The Acorn Indictments":
  2. Vote Fraud Indictments in K.C.:
A.S.:
Expecting outraged Mark Kleiman post (claiming, among other things, that there is no voter fraud here since there were no actual votes, voter fraud is a myth - nobody has ever proved an instance of voter fraud ever in the history of humankind, that all claims of voter fraud are poorly disguised attempts to disenfranchise black people, etc.) in three, two, one...
11.3.2006 3:03pm
Joe Slovo (mail):
Well, the WSJ failed to note that the WI and CO convictions were from 2004 and both workers in question had been turned in by ACORN itself.

Further the TN investigation is over 12 cards submitted by a fired worker out of over 9,000 cards total. I don't have info on the other investigations, but if the 2004 investigations are any indicator I expect ACORN will again cooperate fully and assist in any prosecutions. The irony is that due to changes in several laws it is now mandatory to turn-in any cards gathered, even if the organization can show that the cards were filled out incorrectly or fraudulently. Thus the organization itself has to turn in bad cards, even when it knows they are bad.

The other thing is that most of the cards under investiagation are there because the BOE can't match the info to existing databases. But the SSA's database itself is generally considered to have about 30% bad addresses (and the SSA is a main source of data-matching) not to mention clerical erors in entering the wrong middle name or getting the wrong "jr" or "sr", etc.

In the end the bulk of the cards will be processed and belong to real people honestly trying to register to vote. Probably 15% will end up having bad info that can't be cured and probably 1-2% will be from people trying to get paid for not doing the work by filling out cards with fictional addresses or form the phone book.

Finally, that crack cocaine accusation is completely bogus. They don't fact-check the editorials over there apparently. There were charges of crack being used for payment in voter reg drives in 2004, but it was made against a local field manager for an NAACP voter drive, not an ACORN one. That kind of slip makes you wonder what else in the editorial is false.
11.3.2006 3:03pm
AntonK (mail):
The answer to the question as to why certain groups so oppose voter ID measures seems pretty clear, doesn't it?
11.3.2006 3:19pm
Justin (mail):
I guess the old adage is true. You can lead a Law Professor to knowledge but you can't make him think.

Note that the same objections, all persuasive and none adeuqately addressed, as to what is really going on (ACORN workers registering fake names so as to excuse the fact that they didn't go out and register real names, nobody actually votes on this name, and the only person who gets hurt is ACORN itself, since it pays out to workers who aren't actually working), all clearly apply to this "news."

But if the WSJ editorial page says its news.....I'm still waiting for the Clinton murder trials.
11.3.2006 3:35pm
te:
Thanks to that excerpt from the unbiased and reporter that all is good and true: the WSJ.

Do you have any links to little green footballs or Ann Coulter, too?
11.3.2006 3:56pm
agesilaus:
This seems like a perfect case for a RICO investigation of the national Acorn group
11.3.2006 4:15pm
Michael B (mail):
This tactic is not so unusual for ACORN.

"... ACORN itself, since it pays out to workers who aren't actually working), all clearly apply to this 'news.'"

Well, it is was ACORN which successfully lobbied in Calif. to have itself exempted from minimum wage statutes.
11.3.2006 4:16pm
Colin (mail):
The answer to the question as to why certain groups so oppose voter ID measures seems pretty clear, doesn't it?

As clear as the answer to the question as to why certain groups are so desirous of voter ID measures.

Which is to say that it depends entirely on who you ask.
11.3.2006 4:20pm
Glenn W. Bowen (mail):
better than half of the NYC city council has ties to ACORN.

draw your own conclusions.
11.3.2006 4:24pm
Mark Field (mail):
Conservatives:ACORN::Liberals:Diebold
11.3.2006 4:35pm
SR (mail):
"In November 2001, a coalition of radical politicians led by ACORN-sponsored candidates running on the Working Families Party ticket won a veto-proof majority on the New York City Council, giving ACORN de facto control of the New York City government."

First they took over New York City, then the world. 7-12 false registration cards at a time.

Clearly ACORN is a menace, didn't the WSJ editorial page say so, and must be stopped. I guess when you register tens of thousands of low-income voters and tens of them turn out to be fake, you must be attempting to subvert democracy.
11.3.2006 4:38pm
Glenn W. Bowen (mail):
Actually, we received a very large postcard today from the Working Families Party. Has a nice pic of and quote from Pete Seeger... can't they find a younger commie to endorse them?

Also Cindy Sheehan and Michael Moore.

They want the troops to come home, the Working Families Party.

I want the Working Families Party off the planet.
11.3.2006 5:49pm
WHOI Jacket:
I wonder if the people who are so scared of Diebold machines avoid using ATMs?
11.3.2006 6:06pm
Bruce Hayden (mail) (www):
I do find it interesting that this comes out within a day or so here of the article on the Brennan Center essentially claiming that claims of voting fraud are bogus.

I personally find it a lot more credible and plausible that ACORN might, through paying per voter registration, encourage, innocently or not, the filing of fraudulent voter registrations, than I do that exactly two people voted illegally out of 5 million in Ohio in the 2004 election. But that is just my take on it, and I am sure there are plenty on the other side. (My argument here is that the design of the ACORN renumeration system would tend to garner at least some fraudulent registrations, while determining whether exactly two people voted illegally out of that many would have required significantly more resources to adequately determine than were most likely spent).
11.4.2006 5:26pm
lucia (mail) (www):

te asked> Do you have any links to little green footballs or Ann Coulter, too?


I believe you'll find J. Adler reported the Ann Coulter vote fraud investigation on Nov 2.
11.4.2006 5:43pm
ACORN info (mail) (www):
If you go to my name's link a click 'what links here' in the left sidebar, you'll find that ACORN was at a big march in support of illegal immigration. They're also a member of the FairImmigrationReformMovement, and they attended a meeting by the WeAreAmericaAlliance, which organized some of the marches in support of illegal immigration. Certainly, not all of those marching were illegal aliens, but many or most were depending on the march.
11.6.2006 3:50am