The Truth About ACORN's Voter Registration Drive

[mzmolly]

COURTESY OF MARC AMBINDER - THE ATLANTIC

To: Interested Parties
From: Bertha Lewis and Steve Kest
Date: October 9, 2008
Re: The Truth About ACORN's Voter Registration Drive

Election Day is less than a month away, and our efforts to make sure that low-income and minority voters have a voice and vote on November 4th are in full swing. Unfortunately, just as we've seen in previous election cycles, the more success we have in empowering these voters, the more attacks we have to fend off from partisan forces making unfounded accusations to disparage our work and help maintain the status quo of an unbalanced electorate. We want to take this opportunity to separate the facts of our successes from the falsehoods of our attackers.

On Monday, October 6, as voter registration deadlines passed in most states, ACORN completed the largest, most successful nonpartisan voter registration drive in history. In partnership with the nonpartisan organization Project Vote, we helped register over 1.3 million low-income, minority, and young voters in a total of 21 states. Highlights of this success include:

We collected over 151,000 registrations in Florida, 153,000 in Pennsylvania, 215,000 in Michigan, and nearly 250,000 in Ohio.

An estimated 60-70 percent of our applicants are people of color.

At least HALF of all are registrations are from young people between 18-29.

We are proud of this unprecedented success, and grateful to everyone who supported us in this massive effort, from our funders and partners to the literally thousands of hardworking individuals across the country who dedicated themselves to the cause and conducted the difficult work of registering 1.3 million Americans, one voter at a time.

And this work is far from over: now begins our effort mobilize these new voters around local and national issues, getting them to the polls and helping to channel their commitment and conviction into an ongoing movement for change in our communities.

As The Nation pointed out recently, ACORN's success in registering millions of low-income and minority voters has made it "something of a right-wing bogeyman." Though ACORN believes that the right to vote is not, and should never be, a partisan issue, attacks from groups threatened by our historic success continue to come, motivated by partisan politics and often perpetuated by the media without full investigation of the facts. As a result, there have been a few recent stories about investigations of former ACORN workers for turning in incomplete, erroneous, or fraudulent voter registration applications. Predictably, partisan forces have tried to use these isolated incidents to incite fear of the "bogeyman" of "widespread voter fraud." But we want to take this opportunity to set the record straight and tell you a few facts to show how these incidents really exemplify everything that ACORN is doing right:

Fact: ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field, but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.

Fact: ACORN flags incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in, but these warnings are often ignored by election officials. Often these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards.

Fact: Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card, so there is NO incentive for them to falsify cards. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the relatively rare cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.

Fact: No charges have ever been brought against ACORN itself. Convictions against individual former ACORN workers have been accomplished with our full cooperation, using the evidence obtained through our quality control and verification processes.

Fact: Voter fraud by individuals is extremely rare, and incredibly difficult. There has never been a single proven case of anyone, anywhere, casting an illegal vote as a result of a phony voter registration. Even if someone wanted to influence the election this way, it would not work.

Fact: Most election officials have recognized ACORN's good work and praised our quality control systems. Even in the cities where election officials have complained about ACORN, the applications in question represent less than 1% of the thousands and thousands of registrations ACORN has collected.

Fact: Our accusers not only fail to provide any evidence, they fail to suggest a motive: there is virtually no chance anyone would be able to vote fraudulently, so there is no reason to deliberately submit phony registrations. ACORN is committed to ensuring that the greatest possible numbers of people are registered and allowed to vote, so there is also NO incentive to "disrupt the system" with phony cards.

Fact: Similar accusations were made, and attacks launched, against ACORN and other voter registration organizations in 2004 and 2006. These attacks were not only groundless, they have since been exposed as part of the U.S. Attorney-gate scandal and revealed to be part of a systematic partisan agenda of voter suppression.

These are the facts, and the truth is that a relatively small group of political operatives are trying to orchestrate hysteria about "voter fraud" and manufacture public outrage that they can use to further suppress the votes of millions of low-income and minority Americans.

These tactics are nothing new, and history has shown that they will come to nothing. We'll continue to weather the storm, as we've done for years, and we'll continue to share the truth about our work and express pride about our accomplishments.
Most importantly, we want to assure you that this good work continues, unabated and undeterred. ACORN will not be intimidated, we will not be provoked, and in this important moment in history we will not allow anyone to distract us from these vital efforts to empower our constituencies and our communities to speak for themselves. If the partisan political machines are afraid of low-income and minority voters, they're going to have to do a lot better than coming after ACORN.

After all, there are now at least 1.3 million more of them, and they will not be silenced. They're taking an interest, and taking a stand, and they'll be taking their concerns to the voting booth in November.

And ACORN will be here, to make sure that the voices of these Americans are heard, on Election Day and for every day to come.

[thunder rising]

1. Rec it up!!

[mzmolly]

2. Thanks

TR.

[Systematic Chaos]

4. Done!

and Recommended!

[Bozita]

3. Recommended in *bold print*

[walther]

5. NIce letter. This is becoming a major issue.

CNN had it on every news show tonight. One host said there could be millions of fraudulent registrations in various battleground states. She said that the anger in the Republican crowd is so great that if they perceive they lost the election due to voter fraud, it could mean massive "civil discourse". I can only guess what she means but I know the many Republicans in my family are just livid about ACORN.

[lefthandedskyhook]

40. 'Major issue' here's how it probably happened...

We've all seen lopsided hard evidence that the voter fraud claim is untrue and that election fraud is real. We know that some resentful people on the other side will stop at nothing to gain an advantage. What's to prevent them from planting their own people in ACORN and getting caught on purpose just to discredit the entire effort? It'd be easy, and mass media would run with it. This makes more sense than anything I have seen.

[ann_american2004]

56. ABSOLUTELY

I totally agree with this--plants, maybe even disgruntled former dems (racists) for McCain. I posted below but didnt see your post. I think it's a setup. It's too obvious. They wanted to get caught--all in the same handwriting.

[StClone]

61. Opinion: Attack on ACORN will backfire and worst

For Cons the heavy effort into discrediting ACORN will throw light back at Cons making the claims. Voter suppression and Election Fraud will be a serious question of Cons not ACORN. Popcorn please. Watch out Cons.

[ann_american2004]

66. I GOT MINE

Let's share!

[StClone]

67. Buttered?

[FLyellowdog]

6. Wish I'd seen this earlier. Thanks.

[mzmolly]

7. Thank

you.

[Bozita]

8. Marc Ambinder's blog post ...

My apologies.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/ac...

« RNC IE: "The Chicago Way" | Main | No Air for McCain's Ayers »
ACORN Rallies Its Troops

09 Oct 2008 07:04 pm
Republicans v ACORN has become a perennial early October antagonism, and tensions this year are particularly acute, with Republicans from the McCain campaign all the way down to House Republicans accusing the left-leaning community organizing group of a national conspiracy to flood secretaries of state with fraudulent voter registrations.

It's true, as Ben Smith notes, that Bugs Bunny and other imaginary voters can't imaginably show up at polling precincts and vote, but Republican complaints, to the extent that they are legitimate, are different. It's the rush of voter registrations at the end of the cycle, a rush which leaves election supervisors in the untenable position of having to very quickly decide whether applications are valid or not. Often, bad applications get through. Critics of ACORN wonder: why are fraudulent applications submitted in the first place? It's the system; you pay people to turn in as many voter registration cards as possible, you invite people who want more money to submit false forms. Critics also wonder: why aren't more people -- read the media -- covering this? After all, incidences of fraud are rampant, with official investigations launched in 12 states. Now -- "rampant" might not be the best adjective. Voter registration cards aren't the property of ACORN or any other group, and ACORN is required by law to turn in every completed form -- even if they're obviously fraudulent. ACORN insists it has procedures in place to flag these forms, but you can't blame supervisors of elections from throwing up their hands when they come in.

Even some Democratic groups are wary, not because they think ACORN's doing bad work, but because the sheer size of ACORN's operation lends itself to individuals who can easily game the system, and because the focus on ACORN increases the scrutiny of their own work. It's clear that there's extraordinary interest in this election, and huge amounts of new voters are entering the system, and, sorry Republicans, they're not...Republicans. These October protests seem like a logical place for conservative activists to hold and nurture their grievances about the political environment. Call it galling, for example, that ACORN's voter reg. projects are nominally non-partisan, when, in point of fact, the places they go and the things they do seem to help Democrats disproportionately. Galling, but conservative groups can set up voter reg. organizations like this if they want.

After the jump, read an internal memo from ACORN's directors, Bertha Lewis and Steve Kest, to its political allies, where the claim that ACORN has become a right-wing bogeyman is advanced.



To: Interested Parties
From: Bertha Lewis and Steve Kest
Date: October 9, 2008
Re: The Truth About ACORN's Voter Registration Drive

Election Day is less than a month away, and our efforts to make sure that low-income and minority voters have a voice and vote on November 4th are in full swing. Unfortunately, just as we've seen in previous election cycles, the more success we have in empowering these voters, the more attacks we have to fend off from partisan forces making unfounded accusations to disparage our work and help maintain the status quo of an unbalanced electorate. We want to take this opportunity to separate the facts of our successes from the falsehoods of our attackers.

On Monday, October 6, as voter registration deadlines passed in most states, ACORN completed the largest, most successful nonpartisan voter registration drive in history. In partnership with the nonpartisan organization Project Vote, we helped register over 1.3 million low-income, minority, and young voters in a total of 21 states. Highlights of this success include:

We collected over 151,000 registrations in Florida, 153,000 in Pennsylvania, 215,000 in Michigan, and nearly 250,000 in Ohio.

An estimated 60-70 percent of our applicants are people of color.

At least HALF of all are registrations are from young people between 18-29.

We are proud of this unprecedented success, and grateful to everyone who supported us in this massive effort, from our funders and partners to the literally thousands of hardworking individuals across the country who dedicated themselves to the cause and conducted the difficult work of registering 1.3 million Americans, one voter at a time.

And this work is far from over: now begins our effort mobilize these new voters around local and national issues, getting them to the polls and helping to channel their commitment and conviction into an ongoing movement for change in our communities.

As The Nation pointed out recently, ACORN's success in registering millions of low-income and minority voters has made it "something of a right-wing bogeyman." Though ACORN believes that the right to vote is not, and should never be, a partisan issue, attacks from groups threatened by our historic success continue to come, motivated by partisan politics and often perpetuated by the media without full investigation of the facts. As a result, there have been a few recent stories about investigations of former ACORN workers for turning in incomplete, erroneous, or fraudulent voter registration applications. Predictably, partisan forces have tried to use these isolated incidents to incite fear of the "bogeyman" of "widespread voter fraud." But we want to take this opportunity to set the record straight and tell you a few facts to show how these incidents really exemplify everything that ACORN is doing right:

Fact: ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field, but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic.

Fact: ACORN flags incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in, but these warnings are often ignored by election officials. Often these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards.

Fact: Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card, so there is NO incentive for them to falsify cards. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the relatively rare cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement.

Fact: No charges have ever been brought against ACORN itself. Convictions against individual former ACORN workers have been accomplished with our full cooperation, using the evidence obtained through our quality control and verification processes.

Fact: Voter fraud by individuals is extremely rare, and incredibly difficult. There has never been a single proven case of anyone, anywhere, casting an illegal vote as a result of a phony voter registration. Even if someone wanted to influence the election this way, it would not work.

Fact: Most election officials have recognized ACORN's good work and praised our quality control systems. Even in the cities where election officials have complained about ACORN, the applications in question represent less than 1% of the thousands and thousands of registrations ACORN has collected.

Fact: Our accusers not only fail to provide any evidence, they fail to suggest a motive: there is virtually no chance anyone would be able to vote fraudulently, so there is no reason to deliberately submit phony registrations. ACORN is committed to ensuring that the greatest possible numbers of people are registered and allowed to vote, so there is also NO incentive to "disrupt the system" with phony cards.

Fact: Similar accusations were made, and attacks launched, against ACORN and other voter registration organizations in 2004 and 2006. These attacks were not only groundless, they have since been exposed as part of the U.S. Attorneygate scandal and revealed to be part of a systematic partisan agenda of voter suppression.

These are the facts, and the truth is that a relatively small group of political operatives are trying to orchestrate hysteria about "voter fraud" and manufacture public outrage that they can use to further suppress the votes of millions of low-income and minority Americans.

These tactics are nothing new, and history has shown that they will come to nothing. We'll continue to weather the storm, as we've done for years, and we'll continue to share the truth about our work and express pride about our accomplishments.
Most importantly, we want to assure you that this good work continues, unabated and undeterred. ACORN will not be intimidated, we will not be provoked, and in this important moment in history we will not allow anyone to distract us from these vital efforts to empower our constituencies and our communities to speak for themselves. If the partisan political machines are afraid of low-income and minority voters, they're going to have to do a lot better than coming after ACORN.

After all, there are now at least 1.3 million more of them, and they will not be silenced. They're taking an interest, and taking a stand, and they'll be taking their concerns to the voting booth in November.

And ACORN will be here, to make sure that the voices of these Americans are heard, on Election Day and for every day to come.

[mzmolly]

11. I'm glad ACORN

has addressed this bologna.

[Barbara2423]

100. Pat Robertson (700 Club) - Another good Christian

Is creating discord against this organization that was trying to help Americans become homeowners. We must remember the people who are victims did not write the loans.

[MichaelHarris]

9. Here was my article

When rats feel the ship sinking they get desperate. When political parties see the big white house leaving their grasp they get dirty. Today's raid of ACORN may be one of those dirty tricks. Who is ACORN? From their website,

"ACORN is the nation’s largest grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people with over 400,000 member families organized into more than 1,200 neighborhood chapters in 110 cities across the country. Since 1970, ACORN has been building community organizations that are committed to social and economic justice, and won victories on thousands of issues of concern to our members, through direct action, negotiation, legislative advocacy and voter participation. ACORN helps those who have historically been locked out become powerful players in our democratic system."

Doesn't sound like they're major players in crime, by all accounts they appear to be an upstanding organization. Today's raid and it's national media attention seem to suggest otherwise, well not when you see the facts. The story,

"The Las Vegas headquarters of the nation’s largest grassroots community organization for low-income people was raided today by Nevada state authorities as part of a voter-fraud probe. The raid was initiated by Nevada’s Secretary of State, Ross Miller, after a series of accusations that the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, also known as ACORN, was submitting voter registration lists to the state that contained false or duplicate names of voters."

How horrible! Low Income people doing the whole voter fraud thing, the thing usually reserved for Republicans. Well hold on, the media and the Nevada Secretary of State aren't telling you the whole truth. It seems ACORN had recognized the voter fraud ten months ago, they immediately notified election officials. During those ten months these officials routinely ignored ACORN's concerns.

From a statement issued by ACORN,

"Election officials routinely ignored this information and failed to act. In early July, ACORN asked to meet with election officials to express our concerns that they were not acting on information ACORN had presented to them. ACORN met with Clark County elections officials and a representative of the Secretary of State on July 17th. ACORN pleaded with them to take our concerns about fraudulent applications seriously. One week later, elections officials asked us to provide them with a second copy of what we had previously provided to them. ACORN responded by giving election officials copies of 46 "problem application packages," which involved 33 former canvassers. On September 23, ACORN had received a subpoena dated September 19th requesting information on 15 employees, all of whom had been included in the packages we had previously submitted to election officials. ACORN provided our personnel records on these 15 employees on September 29."

All of this leads to today's stunt, a stunt on a day with a presidential debate. A stunt less than a month before the Presidential Election. ACORN say's it better than I can,

"serves no useful purpose other than discredit our work registering Nevadans and distracting us from the important work ahead of getting every eligible voter to the polls."

Nevadans, is this the sort of actions you want in your state? Hard working people who identified a problem and reported it to officials only to be raided at a more convenient date? Contact Nevada’s Secretary of State, Ross Miller, tell him this is NOT the politics you want your officials playing.

Michael Harris

[Bozita]

12. Well done, MichaelHarris!

[mzmolly]

14. A disgusting

miscarriage of justice.

Thanks for sharing this Michael.

[OHDEM]

10. This issue is a 2-fer for the right.

They can attack Obama's association and claim voter fraud as a mask for their own voter intimidation, rigged machines and purging.

The right keeps bringing up ACORN like we all just KNOW they're corrupt. It's thinly-veiled racism and class warfare considering that ACORN reaches out to minorities and the poor. They know that the more of these folks that register, the more votes we get!

Fox is playing this up BIG TIME. They keep running stories with tags that say fraud is happening at the bottom, but the stories themselves don't prove any fraud and are often just routine screening. It's nothing deliberate at all. Duplicate voter regs will be caught before the election.

We don't want to cheat! We want everyone who is eligible to have the right to vote! Why is that so difficult to understand.

[mzmolly]

16. Absolutely. Did you know that Hannity tied ACORN to the financial crisis

as well?

It's the most vile, racist bunch of bullshit I've witnessed in recent times.

[stillcool]

13. oooh boy...

this country is going to be a mad house on election day. I hope anyone that can, votes early. And of course we all should check our registrations.

[BlooInBloo]

15. And naturally, the moment republicans bitch, DUers immediately conclude there's an "issue".

[mzmolly]

17. Sorry?

[BlooInBloo]

18. Your post was welcome. It's 99% of the others I was referring to.

[mzmolly]

20. Ahhh

gotcha. Sorry, I've not done much reading here tonight.

[PensiveGadfly]

46. H. L. Menken

Shouldn't you put a name after the quote that appears after your name? I'm pretty sure that was Menken.

[BlooInBloo]

54. Everybody knows it's Menken. There's no confusion possible.

[elleng]

80. Everybody?

'Confusion' here.

Ass u me

[StClone]

62. Nature of the war.

[moobu2]

19. CNN did an ACORN smear tonight that could have been produced by Carl Rove

[Bozita]

21. Karl is known to moonlight, you know ...

... and his acolytes are spread throughout the kingdom.

[mzmolly]

22. Anderson Cooper ?

Did they have anyone from ACORN on the program to give a different perspective? My guess is not?

[DirtyDawg]

35. Don't know about Cooper, but...

...Lou Dobbs did a number on ACORN in his show last evening. After a few minutes I had to turn it off cause I knew it had to be more to the story. And sure enough it is. But do you think that fat bastard Dobbs gives a shit? I live in Atlanta and I'm ashamed of what CNN has become. I'd just as soon they close the doors and return to the 'World of Sid and Marty Croft'...and I suspect Ted Turner does as well. Dobbs is a complete whore - my apologies to whores, by the way - and I hope he chokes on a pretzel.

This whole thing is scary as hell. The reason the voting registrars have waited to do anything on this is to make sure the deadline has passed and that if they can whip up enough fake outrage they open the door for an excuse for the bush/cheney to suspend the election - or at least threaten to. We ain't seen nothin' yet.

[mzmolly]

42. I fear you're right.

I only hope that we have so many votes that theft will not be possible?

[ann_american2004]

57. LOU DOBBS MAKES ME SICK

He is an openly racist pig. I think he has KKK pajamies.

And yeah I think the answer to the setup is really who stands to gain by writing blatantly OBVIOUS false registrations?

[Kool Kitty]

23. There's a nasty lying bitch on LK right now,

saying that Obama is intimately involved with ACORN and it is all fraud. Ari Flyshit is on running the same rap. One thing I have to say for the repigs, they sure have their talking points down pat. Not even a little variation.

[mzmolly]

25. Has anyone asked them to explain the polls showing Obama well ahead?

[sunnystarr]

24. You're so right ... it was one sided and really bad smear! (nt)

[struggle4progress]

26. Wish I could recommend this one twice

[Ichingcarpenter]

27. Kick nominated n/t

[Richard Steele]

28. Fact: K&R

[Triana]

29. K & R and bookmarked and posted on my MySpace page as a bulletin. n/t

[Usrename]

30. They don't want to prosecute Ann Coultergeist.

She's the only documented case of voter fraud that I know about.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

31. ACORN is effective - that's why the right is trying to make their name toxic

just like they did with moveon

[bulloney]

32. The smear campaign on ACORN has reached some people.

The video from a McCain rally in Allentown, PA had several people denouncing ACORN like it was some group of commie infiltrators. Nobody could really explain what ACORN is, but they just spewed out a bunch of hateful insults and link Obama to them like he was the ringleader of some concerted voter fraud campaign conducted by ACORN.

I still think these people are just parroting crap they heard on some RW talk radio show.

[wvbygod]

33. Why were the elderly and immobile folks left out?

It's great they got healthy young people but what about our elderly? We own them something.

[redqueen]

36. Do you mean left out of the article?

Just because they weren't mentioned doesn't mean they were left out. Also I'm not sure how many of the elderly need help registering to vote.

[Duppers]

34. K & R

there has been so much publicity about ACRON in the last few days, that folks need this info to counter the crap.

Thanks, MM.

[fascisthunter]

37. Great Job ACORN... We Got Your Back!!!!!

[PensiveGadfly]

38. Acorn

I love this letter, and I suspect that it is correct, but it does not square with the reports coming out of Ohio, things like 5000 (or roughly half) of the voter registration applications turned in are bogus. Acorn still has some explaining to do if for no other reason than I need some talking points here when confronted with the guilt-by-association ploy of Repugnants who think Obama's donation to the organization is proof of . . . well, they think it's proof of something. They are not known for their logical reasoning ability.

[mzmolly]

43. Bogus according to whom?

[EFerrari]

48. The Secretary of State in Ohio disagrees with you. She said yesterday

on Amy Goodman's show that ACORN was very cooperative and that there was no problem with them in Ohio.

[davidswanson]

39. Repubs to "Challenge" Obama Win

By Mark Crispin Miller

As predicted (here and elsewhere), the Republicans are using their huge propaganda apparatus to accuse the Democrats of planning to steal this election. To anyone who knows what's actually been going on these last eight years, the charge is laughable -- or would be, if it weren't so dangerous.

It's dangerous because so many of our fellow-citizens still haven't learned the facts about the stolen races in 2000, 2002, 2004 and 2006, or about the GOP's long preparations to subvert the next election, too. Such facts are still unknown because the press has not reported them, nor have most leading Democrats even acknowledged them. That silence has now made it very easy for the GOP to pose as victims of election fraud and vote suppression -- and thereby to suppress more votes, and perpetrate an even greater fraud this time around.

What the party's done thus far is use the myth of Democratic "voter fraud" not just to cloud the issue, but to justify the passage of Jim Crow legislation, like the photo ID law in Indiana, the birth certificate requirement in Pima County, Arizona, and other measures meant to disenfranchise Democratic/Independent voters by the tens of thousands.

And now the party plans to push that strategy to its ultimate expression: an effort to undo a Democratic victory on Election Day.

On Wednesday, Investor's Business Daily posted an editorial, "Is ACORN Stealing The Election?" The tease: "ELECTION FRAUD: A radical group Barack Obama used to work for is committing voter-registration fraud in several states, ahead of the election. What does Obama know about this scam?"

The whole piece is a tissue of such shrill crapola, which it would take much precious time to blow away. Suffice it to say (one more time) that ACORN has, all along, been scrupulous in its observance of the laws (necessarily, since every move they make is under hostile scrutiny); and that the outfit has prevailed in every lawsuit brought against them by the GOP. As noted earlier, moreover, these recent ACORN "scandals" are a load of rubbish, patently contrived for propaganda purposes. In short, there's nothing there, as any rational observer will discover right away.

But the GOP is not engaged in rational debate or honest inquiry, but dealing in sensational canards, so as to lay the groundwork for another stolen race--just as in Florida eight years ago, when Bush/Cheney's men deployed exaggerations, lies and livid buzzwords (and a telling moment of mob violence) to subvert the true result
of that election and install themselves in power. The strategy for this election is laid out explicitly in the last paragraph of the Investor's Business Daily editorial:

"McCain would be wise to start preparing a challenge to voter registration rolls should he lose the race in a close contest. He'd be crazy not to contest the results in light of these events."

And so we would be crazy to allow the GOP to play that trick on us again. It's therefore time to set the record straight: about what Bush & Co. has done to our elections in this century, and what they're doing now (the Democrats, as usual, colluding in such evil by just sitting there). Only by aggressively exposing the Big Lie that the Republicans are pushing can we keep them from reversing their quite possible defeat on this Election Day--a loss that they apparently foresee, or they would not be getting ready to "contest" it.

[mzmolly]

44. Fully agree!

"The whole piece is a tissue of such shrill crapola, which it would take much precious time to blow away. Suffice it to say (one more time) that ACORN has, all along, been scrupulous in its observance of the laws (necessarily, since every move they make is under hostile scrutiny); and that the outfit has prevailed in every lawsuit brought against them by the GOP. As noted earlier, moreover, these recent ACORN "scandals" are a load of rubbish, patently contrived for propaganda purposes. In short, there's nothing there, as any rational observer will discover right away.

But the GOP is not engaged in rational debate or honest inquiry, but dealing in sensational canards, so as to lay the groundwork for another stolen race--just as in Florida eight years ago, when Bush/Cheney's men deployed exaggerations, lies and livid buzzwords (and a telling moment of mob violence) to subvert the true result
of that election and install themselves in power."

They are setting the stage...

Indeed we must expose these lies, and we must demand that the media do as well. ACORN has been dragged through the mud simply because they're registering Democrats.

[hisownpetard]

41. This is just what I was looking for, a fact sheet to send to my insane "friend" who is full of Fox-

type misinformation, including the implication that Obama used to belong to ACORN which - he says -
is "like the Black Panthers."

So many imbeciles, so little time!!

K&R.

[bjobotts]

93. The right wing crazies will do it anyway...this time the country is too aware

[bjobotts]

94. Not fully aware but too much that they will get away with stealing it.

[bjobotts]

95. Wingnuts also clainm ACORN caused economic collapse giving money to blacks for mortgages

There will always be this 27% of loudmouth scum trying to control the rest of us.

[Blue_Roses]

45. k&r

[Kaleko]

47. K & R

[TexasObserver]

49. ACORN needs to hire some good TV spokespeople and get them on the news channels.

When Fox and McCain are saying all manner of evil against you, sitting quietly is the wrong response.

ACORN needs to go on the offensive, on the airwaves, and have competent spokespeople address this head on.

[Shoelace]

109. yesterday morning, CNN had interview w/Acorn. The station went dead!

one minute after he started to answer questions about voter purging, ACORN etc. the station went deader than a doornail! I kept going back to see if the interview which was about 10 minutes long, came back. Yes, about 30 seconds before the end of the interview, the picture came back on. WTF???????
It was pretty obvious that he was saying alot of things they didn't want the public to hear. Way to strange!!

[Orrex]

50. Thank you very much for this

CNN seems to be running all ACORN, all the time. Apparently Barack Obama himself has been filling in fraudulent registration forms. Is there no evil too depraved for that one?

[Essene]

51. Obama & Dems must apply same stance they would if these were a GOP ally

[fascisthunter]

53. Sure.... only IF it Applies

and so far it doesn't.....

[mzmolly]

58. The stance is that it's wrong to scapegoat a legitimate

organization simply because they serve poor and minority groups.

However in the interest of fairness ~ http://www.dkosopedia.com/wiki/Voter_Registration_Fraud...

[EFerrari]

65. ACORN is clean. Have you donated to them yet? n/t

[Essene]

52. delete double post

[ann_american2004]

55. ROVE'S WRIST MUST HURT

after writing out all those bogus registrations. This is a set-up, people.

Ask yourself, who stands to gain with Acorn being called into question?

Who would write in Indiana 5,000 registrations, OBVIOUSLY bogus with the same EXACT handwriting?

Someone who WANTED to get caught, I think.

Someone who WANTED to call Acorn into question, I think.

Someone who still has an axe to grind over accusations against Chicago and JFK, I think.

Who stands to benefit from such a scandal? October surprise anyone? Playing to the suspicions on our candidate's character, anyone?

Orchestrated by Rove. Blatantly obvious. He was never one for subtlety.

[bleever]

59. This "ACORN stole the election" story they're setting up is

going to work with the 25% authoritarian nut cases, and give Hannity and Limbaugh something to bloviate endlessly about, but it's so feeble and fundamentally mean that its purveyors will just be losing even more credibility with the vast American middle.

Right up there with "poor people caused the financial meltdown!"

[truedelphi]

92. But it diverts public attention from what people should be examining

People are in the dark about The major purges occurring in state after state - in Colorado, the purges are significant enough to perhaps "undo" the massive registration drives.

And boy if I hear one mre time, from a financial "expert" that low income people, banging night and day on the doors of 'Countrywide,' forced the mortgage companies to create the sub prime mortgage packages, I am going to kill my TV. Only on 'Sixty minutes' have I heard the discussion about the credit default swaps and derivatives, which are the real causes of our financial meltdown.

[EFerrari]

60. Kick

[wvbygod]

63. What's the scoop on acorn getting $500,000,000 / year from taxpayers?

Is there any truth to this claim? Do they get any taxpayer money?

[EFerrari]

64. Why don't you go to their site and check out if they get grant money

and why and how.

[mzmolly]

68. Legitimate non-profit groups do get grant money. The scoop is that they're

being unfairly smeared.

[dailykoff]

72. ACORN: "To maintain independence, ACORN does not accept government funding

and is not tax exempt."

http://www.acorn.org/index.php?id=12342, all the way down.

[Joe Chi Minh]

69. K&R

[galloglas]

70. It started in Missouri... Same GOP hack who had me arrested

for voting with PROPER ID.

There is more to this story upfront at KC Prime Buzz

the points by liberalsocialist, I would offer this for fodder in the motive department, because it truly was a Faux media event surrounding these "remarkable disclosures by Missouri officials".

There was only one official who made the claim in Missouri. The GOP head of the Jackson County Election Board, a 36 year veteran appointed by Kit Bond, the Missouri Senator now trying to extract himself from the political (and possibly) criminal mess created when he had MO Rep. Sam Graves brother, Todd, fired.

That incident, being fully covered by the Star and others, is being spun as if this were an outgrowth of a feud between two competing strains of MO GOP Sith Lords: the Graves Camp and the Bond Camp.

True?

Well, I will put my money on it not being the reason, simply because Todd Graves was fired for refusal to bring federal charges against ACORN, or their workers, immediately before the elections. Graves knew it was against the current law for the (supposedly) independent Justice Department to do EVEN IF there truly were charges to bring. But he was fired despite his refusal to break said law.

So, who was appointed to the Western Missouri US Attorney's chair that Bond tipped over while Todd Graves was siting in it?

None other than Bradley Schlozman (hope Yom Kippur was good for you, Brad. You have much to atone for), the Goosestepping assistant-Sith Lord who was ever so happy to break the law that Graves would not.

What has this to do with motive? It proves that there was motive. But not on the part of ACORN.

It is on the part of the GOP machine which cannot accept that their "laissez faire, robber take all" philosophy of government has been rejected by the American people. So the GOP tries to keep the reins of government by disenfranchising US voters, pushing their political thumbs on the scales of Justice until it breaks.

Proof or theory on my part? I offer it as proof.

Otherwise, how did the GOP announce the "massive voter fraud in Missouri" meme, through the "Fox and Friends" program, the morning of the day before?

Quote:

"Remember yesterday when we told you about the transcript of the Fox & Friends show yesterday morning, discussing the bogus raid of an ACORN office in Las Vegas, and then implying "more" ACORN "voter fraud" occurring in Missouri? The RNC actually issued that transcript verbatim as an official RNC press release."

All details here:
http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6488

So you tell me which is true:

A)That the press release, verbatim, by the RNC is proof both of motive for, and execution of, a preplanned plot against ACORN *and* collusion with the Faux News Organization,

or,

B)Carnac the Magnificent is reincarnate, this time with infallible powers of foresight, and working for the RNC?

BTW, I might ask if the above wasn't proof? that Sen. Kit Bond was complicit in criminal actions directed at certain US Attorneys in the Department of Justice instead of being in a minor Missouri SithSquabble.


ProudToBLib's answer


Except that it is beyond questioning.
So FOX is now writing RNC press releases??
Submitted by liberal socialist on October 10, 2008 - 5:38pm.

Good grief.

Wasn't it FOX and Friends that showed the reporter going into the diner in PA and doing a straw poll? He asked the diners how many were voting for McCain and one guy raised his hand. Then he asked how many were voting for Obama and everyone raised their hand, including the guy who was voting for McCain. The reporter then turned to the camera and called his little straw poll "a draw".

So no, I don't think we can trust FOX's reporting on the election. LOL

[mzmolly]

73. I'm confused.

Were YOU arrested? If so I'm very sorry. Also, is the suggestion that the R's are submitting fraudulent applications while blaming ACORN and coordinating with Faux News in the process?

[galloglas]

75. with good reason. It was a confusing situation

I was arrested in August at the primary election.

The first thread here at DU was started by Proud2Belib

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

by the time I arrived home, I gave my story here (first)./ Then uit went viarl.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...


My point about this blatant lie about ACORN is that his {had to have been set up months before hand. Now her insane and over-the-top response to me and my arrest finally makes sense. She was trying to take me and my group, Show Me The Vote !!, out of the picture before this happened with ACORN.

She apparently thought that pending criminal charges ("disturbing the peace and making people fear for their safety by failure to show proper ID"(NO... I kid you not!) would cause me to retreat from the field of battle.

She was wrong and payback is quickly coming her way.

Just that the same monstrous GOP fear and hate monger had TWO vicious acts she was responsible for. She was the "triggerman" in each one.

Make sense now? Hope so.

[mzmolly]

76. Oh my word.

What an awful experience. But, I applaud you for your act of patriotism.



What is the status of your case?

[galloglas]

81. I went to court on 9-11

when I got there, with my lawyer, I looked around and there was no one there from the Election Bureau. And the arresting officers were not there, nor any of the six election judges who were inside the precinct when this happened.

The case was continued until 10-22, when it will probably be postponed again. Anything to get them past the 11-4 election date, so that the publicity that surrounds this goes away because the elections are over.

However, we intend to make as much noise as possible to bring attention to the situation in Jackson County. If it bothers them enough, we will go to trial on 10-22.

If they pass, there will be a civil trial when my son and I sue them for damages under the Civil Rights Act. It isn't over because they never should have done that to us.

[mzmolly]

83. BRAVO

to you and your son.

[Imagevision]

71. ACORN has become Mccain's new talking point since dropping Obama attacks...

[votetastic]

74. Republicans claim to be concerned

that these registered voters are fake people. But they are mostly afraid that these newly registered voters are real people.

[mzmolly]

77. Agreed.

Welcome!

[Politicalboi]

78. Obama needs to bring

This out in the debate. Nip it in the bud.

[nam78_two]

79. K&R.nt

[texanshatingbush]

82. I don't think ACORN's statement will convince John Q. Public

According to CNN, the 5000 voter registrations in question were turned in late on the last day. Of these 5000, officials have currently checked 2100, and all 2100 voter registrations were found to be bogus.

ACORN's explanation simply is not going to fly with the the public. Surely, with the "sophisticated quality-control system" ACORN has, they know who turned these in. They need to confront the individual or individuals, and deal with it appropriately in a very transparent manner.

ACORN has received significant funding from the Obama campaign, and they have officially supported Obama. This makes their claims of "non-partisan voter registration" suspect, at the least.

I totally support what ACORN is doing, BUT it is apparent they have some bad apples, and they have to be up-front about it and deal with it in appropriate manner. Appearances count and can skew people's opinions. We've got to win both the appearance and the fact war. Caesar's wife must be above reproach. Otherwise, we are as guilty as the rePublicans.

[mzmolly]

84. ACORN denies turning in those applications

to my understanding? The question is WHO really turned them in?

[grantcart]

85. very good

[ZeitGuy]

86. Excellent info - thank you! Randi Roades was all over this tonight...

...and she was ON FIRE. I'm starting to develop TMJ from this bullsh#t.

Vote EARLY!

[mzmolly]

107. Good to know!

[farmboxer]

87. The rich do not want the poor/middleclass to vote!

It's simple, the rich do not want the poor/middleclass to vote, or have any say in this Plutocracy.

[onefreespiritedchick]

88. Thanks! Great Info

And bookmarked.

[LaPera]

89. You're correct....It's ALL Rove hype...get us tying to find the bullshit...Rove is good.

A piece of shit (still he fucks with the weak) and throws up garbage...but the republicans are always three steps ahead of the stupid Dems.

[riona]

90. I remember dealing with an Acorn rep. a few years ago.

One of their reps was outside our library. She asked me if I was registered. I can't remember all the details, but there was some glitch and I hadn't been able to verify that my husband and I were still on the rolls. She provided the necessary forms to fill out. As I recall, she said we could mail them in ourselves. I do remember the young woman was polite, professional, and clearly not out to make a buck off my application.

[L. Coyote]

91. Error: you can only recommend threads which were started in the past 24 hours

[Larry L. Burks]

96. voter fraud = rigged elections

I had to reregister to vote in Taylor County Tx, I found out that they have amended the 1965 Voter's right Act. They fixed it so that they can delete you name off the registers voters list. There is about Fifty different reason they can now use to delete you voting record.
They are rigging the elections.
I heard on the radio today that Acorn is registering people that are dead.
That is not true.
They now have a whistleblowers hot line.
If any body can call in and remain anonymous. And report you as being dead.
And they will delete your name off the voters list.
Now people like me are having to reregister to vote.
Here is the big catch.
When they delete your public record of registering and your voting history.
They think that your voting record is gone gone gone.
Not so.
Any time that you delete a file off a hard drive.
It's not really gone. It's still there. You can't find it. But it there.
The FBI can take that hard drive and pull all of the files back up off of it. That have been deleted.
If they are deleting peoples names off the public voters records. At Will.
Voter fraud. The evidence is there for the FBI to prove it. In a court of law.
Some body is going to jail.
And it's not going to be a live, Voter. That had to reregister.
The voter that was left for dead.
It's going to be some body in the registers office.
Push this issue. It is big. Where there is smoke. There is fire. And it's a big fire and growing.
It's all over the internet now.
It's about time that we find out who is committing the voter fraud in America.
And who is not.
Larry

[B Calm]

97. I'm not so worried about voter fraud, it's election fraud that bothers me.

[onethatcares]

98. with all that we've seen since 2000

what would be so hard for gop rats to fill out registrations JUST TO MAKE ACORN LOOK BAD? Jeez, it doesn't cost anything all it is is a signature and an address and I would not put it past the party of bullshit to do just that.

It's like the $40K that Obama supposedly got from illegal donors. With the fundies and swiftboaters, how hard is it to get 40 people to donate $1000.00 or 400 of the asshats to give $100.00 or 4000 of them to give $10.00 just so it blows up in our candidates face?

Don't put anything past these people, they lie, steal and will do anything to stay in power.

[ihavenobias]

99. Kick, too late to rec (don't know how I missed this) n/t

[mzmolly]

106. Thanks

Tom.

[Lochloosa]

101. K/R

[annabanana]

102. Too late to rec... never to late to

[mzmolly]

105. LOL.

what a tremendous kick!

[Shoelace]

103. we need to keep this front and center

to fight all the untruths about ACORN. Thanks for posting this info, it has helped immensely

[mzmolly]

104. Thank you

Shoelace.

[Shoelace]

108. gonna keep kicking too!

so many people need to know this!

[annabanana]

110. back up top with you. . . .for education's sake.. . . . . . . . .n/t