Orlando Sentinel: Is there ACORN fraud in Florida?

[flpoljunkie]

Is there ACORN fraud in Florida?

Aaron Deslatte

Tallahassee Bureau

October 15, 2008

It has become a hot issue in the Republican presidential campaign and the conservative blogosphere: Is ACORN synonymous with voter fraud?

For weeks, state and national Republicans have attacked the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now and its voter-registration drives that have prompted complaints from North Carolina to Nevada.

On Tuesday, Democrat Barack Obama's campaign struck back, calling the recent attacks by John McCain and his surrogates efforts at voter "suppression and intimidation."

And they got support from an unexpected source: Kurt Browning, who as secretary of state oversees Florida's election system and who, at a Tuesday briefing of the Cabinet, was asked about allegations of fraud in voter registrations turned in by ACORN.

"We have not seen a persistent problem across the state of Florida," Browning said.

His comments followed questions by two Republicans, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson and Attorney General Bill McCollum, who voiced concerns about the fraud allegations.

"There is an impression that it's fairly widespread in our state," McCollum said.

That impression has been fanned by RNC officials, who have said ACORN and Obama's campaign are "engaged in a systemic effort to undermine our election system."

ACORN -- which says it has registered 1.3 million young, minorities and poor and working-class voters this year -- is being investigated in at least eight states for irregular voter registrations. Nevada's secretary of state said an ACORN worker signed up the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys. Mickey Mouse tried to register in Orlando. An Ohio man said he signed voter forms 73 times.

ACORN was paid $800,000 by the Obama campaign this year for voter "canvassing," and its political arm has endorsed Obama -- facts the GOP has seized on.

"This is a campaign that escalates every four years," said Brian Kettenring, ACORN's Florida coordinator. "This year it's more aggressively coordinated than ever before."

ACORN says it is forced by state laws to submit all the registrations it gathers even if they look bogus, and has flagged suspicious cards before submitting them.

orlandosentinel.com/news/local/state/orl-acorn1508oct15,0,1796049.story

[flpoljunkie]

1. St. Pete Times: Charlie Crist Not Buying GOP's ACORN-ophobia

Crist not buying GOP's ACORN-ophobia

Despite claims by the Republican National Committee that the integrity of Florida's voting system is at risk thanks to the registration efforts of ACORN, a liberal leaning group that backs Sen. Barack Obama, Republican Gov. Charlie Crist said he's not buying it.

"There are some who sort of enjoy chaos," Crist told reporters this morning.

Crist said he has "enormous confidence" in his secretary of state, Republican Kurt Browning, who reports there is no widespread voter fraud in Florida. A handful of bogus registrations, including one for Mickey Mouse, have been submitted by ACORN in Central Florida, but they've been caught by elections officials or the organization itself.

In a conference call, the second in two days, RNC spokesman Danny Diaz and chief counsel Sean Cairncross warned that ACORN and, by extension, the Democratic presidential nominee were corrupting the system. They were unable to offer new specifics, but that based on the "sheer volume of reports," Diaz said, "it's hard to argue that there's not a national systemic problem... At least three counties have issues in Florida and I'm certain there are probably more."

Wes Allison and Steve Bousquet

http://blogs.tampabay.com/buzz/2008/10/crist-not-buyin.html