ACORN Office in Vegas Raided in Voter-Fraud Probe

[golddigger]

Source: Associated Press

By Oskar Garcia, AP writer
2hours, 24 minutes ago

LAS VEGAS - Nevada state authorities are raiding Las Vegas Headquarters of an organization that works to get low-income people to vote.

A Nevada secretary of State's office spokesman said Tuesday that investigators are looking for evidence of voter fraud at the office of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also called ACORN.

Snip...

The raid comes two months after state and federal authorities formed a task force to pursue election-fraud allegations in Nevada.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081007/ap_on_el_pr/voter_fraud_probe

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Gotta watch those fraudulent viters.

[Robbien]

2. Wingnuts scream about blacks voting and Feds jump into action

Lefties bury Feds under a mountain of evidence the wingnuts are messing with the computers and stealing votes and Feds yawn.
Lefties bury Feds under a mountain of evidence the wingnuts are caging voters and Feds yawn.

But have a wingnut just whisper that he sees blacks/minorities voting and without a shred of voter fraud evidence he thinks the Feds should check it out, Feds jump.

[CitizenPatriot]

3. oh fundy DOJ will you never rest?

HINT: unlike voter fraud, which you have been loath to prove in spite of your careless and repeated use of tax-payer money to go on endless witch hunts looking for dems committing voter fraud, here's something that has been proven which you MIGHT want to look at, since it is in the scope of work for your actual job title and pay.

it's called ELECTION FRAUD.

See Steven Spoonamore.

See Diebold.

See the GOP.

[louis-t]

4. I heard the stories for years from RW relatives.

"Da Democrats give homeless people rides to the polls and then go in the booth with them and tell them which levers to pull." Never any proof, never any example of where and when, just stories. Also, Nevada is where the RW GOTV group was tossing Dem registrations in dumpsters. How'd that work out? Any convictions?

[Supersedeas]

5. Task force to pursue Election Fraud -- and voter registrations (not Diebold) is the target?

[EFerrari]

8. Republicans call vote suppression "voter fraud"

because that's the excuse they use to intimidate people.

That's different than election fraud, which is a systemic problem, fyi.

ETA: I see. The writer mushes these two terms together in his article.

[Supersedeas]

15. and vote 'caging' is just politics as usual -- right US Attorney nominee Tim Griffin

[EFerrari]

16. Put this up in GD:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4187058

[EFerrari]

6. This is the *real* War on Poverty.

:grr:

[fascisthunter]

7. Right Wingers in Our Government are Forcing This Issue

time to call out the GOP for Election Fraud... enough of this shit!

[medeak]

9. "FALSE AND DUPLICATE NAMES"

oh shit...

Secretary of State spokesman Bob Walsh says ACORN is accused of submitting multiple voter registrations with false and duplicate names.

[AtheistCrusader]

10. There's quite a bit of precedent for this

from ACORN unfortunately. The Right is going to make hay with it too, you can bet.

[Peace Patriot]

19. You want to point us to a link, or cite some evidence, AtheistCrusader, that

"there is quite a bit of precedent for this from ACORN." I looked into one case and it was so miniscule, involving a couple of votes, and what were very likely mere mistakes, that I was flabbergasted at the resources of government utterly wasted on harassing this very worthy organization. The government should be HELPING them, not harassing them! I can't remember where it was--maybe Illinois? 2004, I think. And that was IT. One case. The Bushwhacks investigate, harass, confiscate, scare and suppress good citizen activity, and nothing. It's all nothing. That one case I read about--I don't think they even got a conviction, it was so flimsy.

Groups that register the poor may have to rely on poorly trained volunteers. Why aren't election officials and off-duty cops and U.S. attorneys helping them do it right, if they are making mistakes, instead of wasting millions of dollars on a non-existent problem? WHY would a well-known voter registration group deliberately do anything false? You are going to have to convince me of that, and that there is "quite a bit of precedent." I think you may be suffering from Bushwhack propaganda.

[AtheistCrusader]

30. Sure, from my home state.

Full warning, this seems to be no more than some temp workers coming up with fake names so they didn't have to go out and actually register people. Still is used to smear us.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2003982533_acorn30m.html?syndication=rss

Same exact thing happened in Kansas. Michigan, Ohio, and several other states have outstanding investigations for similar problems from ACORN workers. Milwaukee is filing charges against 8 ACORN workers for registering dead people, and offering gas cards and other gifts to get people to register. Petition fraud allegations in Florida too. Not mistakes, likely intentional misconduct by the employees, not encouraged or endorsed by ACORN itself.

In past elections, I don't think there is any evidence these fraudulent registrations were ever actually used for anything other than for the ACORN workers to collect a paycheck, but it gives the Republicans ammunition to smear a group associated with our candidate. I don't like that. Voting should be squeaky clean. At least from our side of the fence. Let's leave the Diebold accusations tied to their candidate, and keep it at that. Last thing I need is some sweaty idiot pointing his finger in my face and screaming about ACORN voter registrations everytime polling irregularities come up.

Anyway, citations:
St. Louis
http://www.stltoday.com/forums/viewtopic.php?p=6100720
New Mexico
http://web.abqtrib.com/archives/news04/082504_news_voter.shtml

etc. It's not hard to find these, and not just from wingnut republican blogs.

[FVZA_Colonel]

37. I agree this is problematic, but I so far no charges have been made to stick to Obama/Biden.

A raid might change things, but I just don't think at this point people are going to associate "Fraud" with Obama/Biden.

[Hugin]

38. There are never any votes cast under these fake names... So, it is vote-less fraud.

There are more pressing issues currently.

[EFerrari]

23. No, there isn't. n/t

[AtheistCrusader]

32. See post #30

It's not as sinister as it's often made out to be, but it's certainly a credibility problem.

[EFerrari]

39. But it's a few individuals, it's not ACORN.

This happens in all big groups.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

40. If they work for ACORN then that's where they have to start the investigation.

At least until they can narrow it down. We really don't want questions of illegitimacy.

David

[EFerrari]

41. It's already been shown to be individuals not policy.

We don't have to "start". It's already been done.

Why don't you go to their site instead of getting them filtered through the reich wing? They do a ton of good in a bunch of areas. Why do you think the Republicans hate them so much, lol?

www.acorn.org

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

43. You misunderstand.

If the individuals are doing the illegal activity as part of their work with ACORN they have to get the evidence from ACORN. I'm sure they have done a lot of good.

David

[EFerrari]

45. No, I get it. This smear has already been tried once in court

maybe in Nevada? I can't remember the state. But, it was shown very clearly that it was individuals messing up, not the organization.

If ACORN can be tied up between now and November, well, the GOP will be very happy about a job well done.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

47. I don't think it matters.

It appears to be over even Rove thinks so.

David

[AtheistCrusader]

51. Seems like ACORN could also do a little oversight

of it's own employees.

The only thing that disturbs me about the raid, is that ACORN has fully cooperated with all investigations in the past, so I don't see any particular need to be kicking down doors.

[EFerrari]

54. At some point, we have to see this for what it is: intimidation.

It also generated a news item that the thugs can point to. No one will ask the questions we have asked, and ACORN gets smeared again.

[NashVegas]

57. Great. Let's Sue the Republican Party for the Systematic Voter Caging

of a few individuals.

[Fire_Medic_Dave]

58. This wasn't a private lawsuit against ACORN.

[Roy]

25. the obly precedents is rightwing accusations

[medeak]

53. they hired excons adept at identity theft

it comes out today. Am so angry I can't tell you... this is my state.

[Hugabear]

12. It's a bullshit charge - this is voter suppression, pure and simple

n/t

[angstlessk]

13. I have registered twice not to vote twice but to make sure I am registered...

that is NOT VOTER FRAUD...

[populistdriven]

20. Trumped up BS - These are people who keep trying to reg but they never get their card so they submit

their form again.

[Infinite Hope]

11. They've done that before. I condemn fraud from the left and right. That's sick. n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. What the heck's fraud from the left got to do with the price of fish and chips.

The left hasn't NEEDED to indulge in election fraud or voter suppression for decades!

It's sick all right. It's also pretty sick roping in the left here. Even Democratic fraud in the quite distant past was like a cap gun compared to a magnum, in comparison with the wholesale theft of elections by the Republican Party (such as it is and has been, in recent years).

[Infinite Hope]

52. Fraud is fraud and it's wrong regardless of the organization or the frequency. n/t

[Joe Chi Minh]

55. Why would a person with a normal moral compass feel the need to

point that out. It is a point made again and again by posters on here. But as seldom in the context of your elections as they are likely to have been perpetrated by Democrats.

People only commit crimes, such as fraud, to gain an illegal advantage. The Democrats have had an absolutely massive, electoral advantage, ever since Bill Clinton left the country on a high, having, among many other achievements, converted a then record deficit into a record surplus. You may question its foundation, as in some small measure, a Greenspan-created precursor to the present bubble, but, even if it is true, that would not have impinged on the criteria resorted to by the electorate.

Fraud was never a requirement for the Democrats to win true and very resounding victories at the polls ever since. And no-one here needs you to tell them that fraud is a bad idea, whoever its perpetrator.

[AndyTiedye]

17. They Are Stepping Up the Voter Purges and Intimidation

because they do not intend to let us win Nevada, even if a majority of Nevada residents vote our way.

[TrogL]

18. We live in Orwellian times

War is Peace
Freedom is Slavery
Ignorance is Strength

"get ... people to vote" is "voter fraud"

[bluestateguy]

21. ACORN is incredibly sloppy

I know this from exasperated people who have worked for them before.

[EFerrari]

24. Do you have a source or a link? Thanks!

[bluestateguy]

27. I have three friends who worked for them

All I have is their word and they are people that I trust. They all said that ACORN was honest, but just very undisciplined and sloppy.

I don't have time to go looking for documents and records to satisfy your test of proof, however.

[EFerrari]

28. Fair enough. n/t

[tom_paine]

36. Unfortunately, as in Nazi Germany, if a "Jew" is honest, yet sloppy, that is a FAR

greater "crime" in the eyes of Bushie/Nazi controlled "law" enforcement, than even intentional Bushie/Nazi criminal acts.

Because as we all know, in totalitarian societies, Party members are NEVER guilty of crimes. Only Jews and Liberals and homsexuals and gypsies and....

[Roy]

26. Right wingers sign up to do canvassing for Acorn

Turn in phony cards and then scream fraud

[Roy]

22. Why pull a raid when no one is in the office???

Was it so they can bring the evidence in with them? hmmmm.

[David__77]

29. ACORN is doing good work.

It's a real mass organization representing poor people. We need more groups like it.

[DevonRex]

31. A bunch of batshit crazy anti-Obama folks are trying to link him to it.

And they want it to bring him down. Really, they want anything to bring him down. You gotta laugh at those slimey assholds.

[FVZA_Colonel]

44. How could they connect him to this?

ACORN is a third-party group, he had nothing to do with this (if, in fact, anything occured.)

[DevonRex]

49. What I read today...

...elsewhere is that since he did community organizing with them when he was young, they hope to tie him to the present thingy that's going on.

Of course, that little theory was mixed in with a bunch of other even MORE batshit crazy stuff, so take it for what it's worth (which is absolutely nothing). Some folks are ready for the loony bin.

[EFerrari]

46. And you also have to laugh at those among us who believe ACORN

is somehow "bad" just because Republicans say they are. :)

[DevonRex]

50. Yep. I mean, how dare people try to help other people? That's just

wrong!!!! :sarcasm:

[BradBlog]

33. GOP's ACORN 'Voter Fraud' Lie Ramped Up; State Police Raid ACORN Office in Vegas

Source: BRAD BLOG, AP, ACORN



GOP's ACORN 'Voter Fraud' Lie Ramped Up; State Police Raid ACORN Office in Vegas

Today's incredible raid of an ACORN office in Las Vegas -- in hotly contested Nevada, as coincidence would have it -- by state police, has forced me to push this to the top of the heap right now.

ACORN's statement on today's nonsense in Vegas, is also posted at the end of this article.

Doubtless you've heard the smears by now: that ACORN is committing "voter fraud", on behalf of Obama, in hotly contested swing states. The media has been all too happy to pass that garbage on, without bothering to note that, in fact, the organization attempts to authenticate every registration form their workers submit and by law -- even if they find a registration to be fraudulent when they call the phone number submitted on the form, or if the forms are otherwise suspect or incomplete -- they must turn in every form to election officials.

They do so, and they flag any questionable registration forms as being suspect before turning them in.

The thanks they receive, for notifying officials about registration forms they have concerns about, is that the GOP's democracy-hating propagandists and election officials out there, run to the media, shouting "ACORN is committing voter fraud! They've turned in hundreds or thousands of fraudulent registration forms!"

That's precisely what occurred today, as GOP democracy-haters -- those who put politics first and country second -- hit a PR jackpot with the help of state officials in Vegas...

FULL STORY, HOW THE SCAM WORKS, ACORN'S STATEMENT:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6480

Read more: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=648

[tom_paine]

34. It 1960s Mississippi again, kinder and gentler Bushie Style.

What can we DO against such things? "New Hitler" has the police. So "New Jewish" Voter Registration is in danger.

Hey. It's progress. If these were 1930s German Bushies the entire ACORN office would have been burnt to the ground, members savagly been beaten or murdered "legally", the ones still living sent off to the Bushie Camps across Germany to die.

Progress.

:argh: :grr:

[pleah]

35. I don't think they (the rethugs) are even going to try to hide

their attempt at election theft this time around.

[EFerrari]

42. Cross post this in GD. It's too important. n/t

[bean fidhleir]

48. Why don't the Dems as a party fight this crap? Don't they CARE?

They don't bother fighting the caging scam, they don't bother fighting the purge lists (NAACP had to do that after the fact, but it didn't seem to help).

What *exactly* is the Dem party apparatus good for besides maintaining and milking donor lists?

[droidamus2]

56. Not an uncommon problem

The problem with 'paid' voter registration people turning in fraudulent registrations just to make money is not new and new particular to ACORN. I think it is a bad idea to pay people to gather registrations just for this reason. If people want to volunteer their time to register voters great otherwise I think the money would be better spent establishing offices where people can register and advertising blitzes to let them know where they are. Have your people doing canvassing let people know where they are too. That way you have more control over what is going on.

[Doctor_J]

59. Domestic terrorists

Obama's DoJ needs to imprison all of there terrorists

[dchill]

60. You know, ACORN has been at the top of Fox News...

talking points for dittohead news-readers for a couple of weeks, now. Organized conspiracy, anyone?

[greblc]

61. It doesn't have to be true to spin.

Watch this one. It will work it way into the McCain Palin stump speeches