Subscribe to Common Dreams News Updates
Most Popular This Week
Popular content
Today's Top News
ACORN Raid Reflects GOP Anger at Voter Registration Drive
Yesterday's raid on Nevada offices of ACORN reflects the increasingly aggressive Republican attempts to derail voter registration efforts among poor and minority voters.
An investigator enters the ACORN office in Las Vegas, Tuesday, Oct. 7, 2008. A Nevada secretary of state's office spokesman said Tuesday that investigators are looking for evidence of voter fraud at the office. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong) As The Washington Post reported,
the Nevada chapter of the Assn. of Community Organizations for Reform
Now, or ACORN, had planned a potluck dinner at its Las Vegas office
Tuesday night to celebrate the 80,000 newly registered voters its staff
had signed up in Clark County.
Before that dinner could start, however, Nevada officials raided the ACORN office, removing 20 boxes of documents and eight computer hard drives. The state officials claimed that workers for the community-organizing group, who are paid by the hour, had submitted almost 300 voter registration cards that included names and addresses that don't exist in Nevada, or are duplicates of previous registrations.
A former ACORN employee said she started making up names to fill out the registration forms to avoid having to work in the heat outside. Workers are expected to sign up 20 new voters per shift.
As I noted in my post yesterday, Republicans have been aggressively attacking ACORN for alleged voter fraud, and using any false or erroneous registrations submitted by the group to claim there's a problem of widespread voter fraud that's tainting the elections.
But not only are the numbers of illegitimate registrations found tiny in comparison to the 1.3 million valid new registrations the group has signed up, but neither the Nevada GOP, nor anyone else, has presented any evidence that these duplicate or false registrations have any impact whatsoever on the validity of the vote.
After all, unless poll workers are sleeping on the job, no one can show up and vote twice. And there's no evidence, and likewise no charges, that anyone is showing up at the polls and impersonating the nonexistent voters that have been signed up.
Still, ACORN has been making huge efforts to try to prevent this sort of fraud - cooperating with local authorities by flagging suspicious registrations and having workers individually call new registrants to make sure their registrations are legitimate.
Of course, the group has good reason to cooperate with local authorities to prevent fraud. After all, even assuming the Republicans' allegations against ACORN workers are true, the only fraud that's actually been perpetrated was on ACORN itself -- not on the government or the voters of Nevada, or anywhere else.
- Posted in
33 Comments so far
Show AllB.S. 25 Yards!
Authorities in Ohio already have one Guy registered 3 times under 2 different Addresses...ACORN is well known for this...only this time I think Somebody is going to jail
This from the Cuyahoga County Election Board:
In one case, a Cleveland resident was registered to vote three times in a single day, listing two different addresses…The man’s registration was submitted to the Board of Elections by ACORN. The board discussed several other cases of multiple registrations at their meeting. ACORN was involved in each case, although not for all entries by the same individuals…Board Member Robert Frost said the group failed to follow guidelines in its own manual to turn over suspected voter fraud to law enforcement to investigate. Election officials subpoenaed three voters to appear before the Board next week to explain their multiple registrations.
ACORN is a Cheating Criminal Organization...period
Acorn did some good work in earlier times, but I'm afraid it's gone downhill a bit doing more for its staff than citizens in some cases. But we can't condemn the whole organization for problems here and there. They can still do useful work.
Using that criteria, we could wipe out most business's and most political organizations to say nothing of government.
I am sure they do some good things...I am ALL FOR as many People (legally) voting as possible...In the Last Presidential my understanding about the ACORN Problem is that they Pay their People to register Voters...all well and good except they pay them BY the Registration...they were taking names out of the Phone Book...using Disney Characters...making up names and Addresses
Its their system that encourages the abuse because they want to make more money
My Heartburn with this article is that the writer is trying to blow off the concerns as if it was made up or a plot to suppress the poor...I notice that a lot when somebody points this sort of thing out...
"Its their system that encourages the abuse because they want to make more money"
I think thats very true. They hire folks that just aren't always the best and they cheat a bit. Heck, LBJ was famous for stuffing the ballot box in his day. There may be some of that, maybe the rest is just easier than doing the work.
"My Heartburn with this article is that the writer is trying to blow off the concerns as if it was made up or a plot to suppress the poor...I notice that a lot when somebody points this sort of thing out..."
I completely understand your heartburn. But remember he's writing to a particular audience. These articles range from paranoid to fair minded, pretty much the same range you'd find at Human Events or any very conservative web site.
Remember....keep his hat on at all times, unless flying, in which case...sit on it.
C'mon guys, you show concern that a large organization like ACORN has some hiring and volunteer problems and that these have led to small numbers of apparently fraudulent registrations.
But you don't see anything a bit excessive in a police raid on a local branch of that organization that "...remov(ed) 20 boxes of documents and eight computer hard drives."?
As the last sentence of the article reminds us "...even assuming the Republicans'(sic?) allegations against ACORN workers are true, THE ONLY FRAUD THAT'S ACTUALLY BEEN PERPETRATED WAS ON acorn ITSELF-- not on the government or the voters of Nevada, or anywhere else."
Remember these are just Registrations not votes. Unless the idea is the ACORN staffers or someone else who knew of the imaginary voters, and knew their exact names and info was planning on showing up at the polls or sending absentee ballots in there name, what exactly is the crime here?
It appears the only crime was the Police Informant's "making up names" to "avoid having to work in the heat". So the only crime is a minor and non-malicious one against ACORN by this worker. Even this might have been caught by ACORN itself in their "...cooperating with local authorities by flagging suspicious registrations and having workers individually call new registrants to make sure their registrations are legitimate."
And what if ACORN's own checking systems and cooperation with "local authorities" failed to catch the problem and someone DID actually risk Federal Criminal Charges to pad Obama's (McCain's?) vote total by 300? Then those same "local authorities" and any other Citizen would be able to challenge and confirm the legitimacy of the vote after the fact. This is supposedly the whole point of "vote challenges".
So given all this, you don't see something excessive and worrying about this police raid "...removing 20 boxes of documents and eight computer hard drives."?
A raid apparently without Arrest or Charge, against a group whose goal is to increase participation in our Electoral System, especially for those minorities and poor workers who have been traditionally alienated from it, and whose participation is essential for functioning Democracy?
A group who is in regular contact and cooperation with the "local authorities" whose job it is to monitor this process.
"Local Authorities" who already posses ample power to find and prosecute anyone crazy enough to risk Federal Jail Time in order to impersonate a fake voter or vote twice.
All of this on the say-so of one employee who admits to commiting fraud on her employer and whose fraud we don't evn know her employer would not have caught on its own?
Or is the fact that this chapter of ACORN "...submitted almost 300 voter registration cards that included names and addresses that don't exist in Nevada, or are duplicates of previous registrations."?
300 out of 80,000. That' it. And wait! What's this "submitted" part? Oh yeah, "submitted" as in "submitted for your approval", as in its the State's job to check out these registrations or at least make sure actual votes are valid. It is a job that the taxes of Citizens of Nevada pay for. Likely out of a regressive "sales tax" which means the very people that ACORN is trying to get involved and who the GOP and the police seem eager to intimidate (minorities, workers) pay more than there fair share.
Apolologies for quoting most of the article, but it almost seemed as if you didn't read it! Do you see now why the writer of this piece and many of the rest of us thinks this raid "smells" just a bit? And do you see how to many of us ~SnowWolf's~ immediate assumption that it doesn't and that ACORN is assuredly corrupt to the core "smells" just a bit more?
Don't Panic,
-matti.
OK matti, point taken.
Though I would say to you that we don't know what all the citrcumstances were. Writers have been known to slant things. Remember the Jena 6. That turned out to be nothing like originally reported.
We had a raid of a manufacturing facility last year in the next town and I am here to tell you that the reports were nothing like what really happened there. Common report is often common liar.
That said, it is a bit over the top seemingly.
Agreed in full.
The opening sentence -for instance- doesn't exactly SHOUT "objectivity" does it?
I mean, its a conclusion, not an opening.
That's why I say this just "smells" to me.
I'm beginning to think any media and "objectivity" is an oxymoron. But "smells" is fair.
Free and Fair is all any of us want in an election (at least thats what I want)...this sort of thing raises doubts...
and I wouldn't be adverse to international observers monitoring our polls...so long as they were also Democracies...I don't want Cuba Syria and North Korea doing it
and Matt is down to 2 months on this tour...I hope he keeps his mind on the job...no complacency...
"don't want Cuba Syria and North Korea doing it"
I don't think anyone here would.
Damn...I hate short time. Keep those eyeballs on stalks and ears like parabolic dish's.
Tell him if he doesn't come home safe, no Ferrari.
Yeah, not Syria or N.Korea.
But I'll happily take Cuban democracy over American democracy.
Some people are so ignorant they don't even realize Cuba holds elections.
http://www.newhumanist.com/geiser.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elections_in_Cuba
Do you really believe that Cuba has a democracy? Yes, they hold elections, so did Iraq, so does North Korea, many dictatorships do.
MujerAlta October 9th, 2008 12:21 am
Check his posting, I hadn't seen it before I posted this, it covers what I was trying to say better.
Do you really want to exchange what you have for what you saw in Cuba? Serious question, just wondering why you think that?
The proper and customary reaction to suspected invalid voter registrations would be to challenge the entries, purge duplicates, possibly take the matter to court and strike any false entries from the rolls. It is a civil type initiative, a detailed desk job. Then if deliberate fraud is found there could be indictments.
A police action raiding an office seems vindictive and irrelevant, designed to intimidate before the elections. As the article says, the vast majority of the Acorn voter registrations are legitimate and, I infer, are likely to benefit Obama in a contended state.
This raid seems to tie in with charges that Acorn is responsible for the Wall Street meltdown because they gave loans to Black people who could not pay. Whatever Acorn may or may not have done on a local level, it cannot have been instrumental in the crisis. Acorn is insignificant compared with mortgage companies, Lehman Brother, AIG, the banks and the legislators who got rid of all common sense regulations over the last two decades.
It is important to make sure our elections are peaceful and legal. Should we invite international observers?
Joe
Just when I think of dropping CD because of all the nut jobs showing up here lately, you post a reasonable and clear response to an article. My thanks to you.
"It is important to make sure our elections are peaceful and legal. Should we invite international observers?"
Why not? We do it for others.
Thanks! You too - your sincere questioning of the accepted left wisdom often spurs me to think more about things.
Joe
Shucks! No kidding I appreciate your postings and many others here.
Exactly. This is something that seems like it should be no problem at all.
Yet it is.
I have a gut feeling that any such group of observers would uncover levels of corruption and mismanagement and disenfranchisement that would surprise even the readers of Greg Palast books.
Our Electoral system needs review and restructuring, the kind of restructuring that would require an Amendment to, or a total rewriting of the Federal Constitution.
I believe our Constitution is fine. But I must agree with you that I have begun to worry about the honesty of our voting. You can practically register if you drive by Jack-in-the-Box. Not a good thing.
Electronic machines without a paper trail? An invitation to fraud.
I truly don't know about the electoral system. You may be right, I just don't have that level of knoowledge.
Jimmy Carter, who has helped monitor elections in other countries, has stated in the past that the U.S. elections are so bad that monitoring them is not really possible. Countries must meet minimum standards before other countries will monitor their elections. The U.S. does not meet those standards.
Oh great! I hadn't heard that before.
Do you know where I might read what the criteria is and where we are deficient?
I've often wondered why most places don't require identification to vote...I think that would be quite fair and at least stop the idea that fraud was possible
What I meant about the Amendment stuff was that I think it may take a total restructuring to solve this problem and that would require alteration to the Constitution at the least. The "rewriting" part is due to this not being the only part of our current system that I believe needs total reworking. Also, I have a sincere belief from reading the writings and the stories of the Members of the Philadelphia Convention that they would be shocked (and some of them appalled) that we have NOT rewritten it but only Amended it given all of the changes in Society over the last 221 years.
The U.S. is almost unique in the realm of Constitutional Republics in still being on what most others would call our "First Republic" -and it shows. The weight of Precedence -and the new ability to use computers to find any and all of it- is crushing the heart of our legal system. And we are a Nation who relies on our legal system heavily.
I have thought for some time that we may indeed be in the unenviable posistion -at last- of needing to hold a new Constitutional Convention, write a new Constitution, and begin the Second Republic.
I won't linger on the whys and whatfors just now, except to say that it IS well within our Constitutional and therefore Legal Rights to do so. The last two Amendments of the Bill of Rights provide multiple paths to follow here. Amendment IX reminds us that if certain Rights have not been "enumerated" that doesn't mean they have been "den(ied) or disparag(ed)" to "the people", so the People themselves may have paths to follow. Amendment X then reminds us that the States "reserve" any Rights not "prohibited" to them or "delegated to the United States", and concludes by backing up IX and giving the same "reserve" to "the people".
As for the Electoral System:
Your point is a good one, Electronic voting with no record is outrageous. This we may take as given. But then the question becomes "Why is such and outrage occuring?" which, after a little digging, is followed by "Why are ALL these DIFFERENT outrages occuring?".
The Corruption of the Electoral process differs of course State by State. It is truly awful in some (of which Nevada is one) and unremarkable (or uninvestigated?) in others. But it is widespread and it is -at least by modern standards- getting worse.
EV machines *sans* record don't just appear out of thin air into the minds or offices of State or County Electoral officials. They are placed there by private enterprises, whose motives are not (cannot be) known to the public, whose methods and standards are "proprietary", and who face no direct (or often indirect) oversight by the releveant Government Bodies. They are some of the main directors of our Electoral process yet they are not answerable to, and have not been entrusted by the People.
I could go into more detail, but I'd really just be quoting what others have reported. Suffice to say, this new level of lucrative involvement -and therefore inevitible corruption- by private for-profit businesses, added to the continued corruptive influence by the Major Political Parties (gerrymandering anyone?) has pushed our Electoral System past the breaking point in my opinion.
I would further opine that one good way to "fix it" is to "junk it and get a new one" (just like my last beater car).
A truly independent Electoral Commission would oversee the drawing of districts, the registration of candidates, the registration of voters, the conduct and funding of the campaign, the construction of the ballot and the method of voting (Instant Runoff or "first past the post"?), and finally the count itself, including recounts, challenges, and any and all OFFICIAL "pre-election" or "exit" polls. And perhaps there are other matters that I have missed.
To have something like this for Federal Elections in the U.S. we would need to "revisit" the Constitution. Setting this all up under the purview of either the existing Executive or the Legislative branches does not seem sufficient. The Idea of an incumbant candidate appointing the officers who will decide an Election that he will compete in is ludicrously open to corruption, and the U.S. Congress is about the worst villain there is in the current crisis, so they're both out.
A new "Fourth Branch" is one possibility -one that other places have tried, so far successfully- but that will absolutely require a new Amendment, maybe several. Maybe -considering how difficult it will be to get several Amendments written and Ratified- at that point it will be just as simple to call for a whole new Convention and just kinda "start over" with such a "branch" in place.
As we get closer to the "heart of darkness" that our Election Day has become, I just think that we should be getting past all the partisan and "anti-partisan" yelling and screaming and focusing on the longer term.
We should admit that there are stuctral flaws -some of them quite deep and wide- in Our Republic, that these flaws have now either killed it outright or sent it into a deep coma, and that the goal of waking it -or burying it and beginning anew- is too big and too important for us to ignore because of petty philosophical squabbles.
True-Hearted Patriots of the "good Right" respect the Constitution. I believe I have demostrated that it is in trouble, and that its rescue or replacement can be done within its framework.
Forward-Looking People of the "true Left" desire Social Progress. I believe I have demonstrated that it is stalled, and that its renewed movement requires strategic action on these issues.
The World will not End -whether in shining Light or burning Darkness- after Election day, nor after Inauguration day, nor after the opening of the new Congress.
It will continue on, but it needs our help.
Without observing and planning, and without work and effort and cooperation and compromise, we will be of little help at all.
Don't Panic,
-matti.
Darn...I'm going to have read this very carefully.
I think it is something we will need to face.
And in this case, sooner is better than latter.
Do we stand, impotent, in a House collapsing around us?
Or do we act, rebuilding it, with the original blueprints handy?
Seems an obvious choice to me.
I think the Federalist Papers provide the best outline of what they were thinking. I don't believe it needs to be rewritten, but I do believe we need to restore some of its functions and prehaps it needs a new amendment or two.
"The weight of Precedence -and the new ability to use computers to find any and all of it- is crushing the heart of our legal system. And we are a Nation who relies on our legal system heavily."
This for instance is an excellent point. When legal and justice seperate as they can if precedence takes the place of justice, we need to make an adjustment.
"Amendment X then reminds us that the States "reserve" any Rights not "prohibited" to them or "delegated to the United States"
This is another excellent and important point. The state level is where our country can be corrected I believe. It began to happen last year with the illegal Alien cricis, but it shows the way I think. Local areas and the state is where the Reformation or 2nd. Republic will begin in my opinion.
"I just think that we should be getting past all the partisan and "anti-partisan" yelling and screaming and focusing on the longer term."
PLease God! Just discussing things in places like CD, the demonizing of the other side is as bad as the right is accused of. And the vast majority of people aren't ideologists, they just want things to work and could care less if its a closely held position of the left or right.
Considering what you said, add the fact that I agree our Republic is in trouble and I have begiun to question the honesty of our voting some places, I agree we need to revise our electoral process. Especially the redistricting. How to do it....Oops. You need to be talking to someone way smarter.
"Without observing and planning, and without work and effort and cooperation and compromise, we will be of little help at all."
We are in total agreement there. But posting here and reading posts on right wing sites, you can see the problem. All to the Left are the Devils spawn. All to the right are the devil. Its the middle that will save us I guess.
"too big and too important for us to ignore because of petty philosophical squabbles."
Truer words never spoken.
Thanks very much for your considered thought. I have modified a few views because of it and this is why I stay at CD in spite of the nut cases.
Never Panic!
All I got to say is that if this had been a GOP org registering voters with the same exact "issues", the cops wouldn't have been anywhere near the place.
FYI: voting is not a defining characteristic of "democracy"...never has been, never will be. To vote is to make a choice. Voting occurs in every flavor of political system from the most free to the most oppressive. In a democracy, each citizen holds individual power which he voluntarily "loans" to his government. Conversely, when a democratic government screws up, citizens can choose to remove their "power" from the government and it looses its legitimacy. Families, businesses and corporations, the military, totalitarian states, monarchies and some doctrinal churches are not democracies - even though you'll find voting of one kind or another common in all of them.
Busque la verdad!
Excellent posting.
The biggest issue here is trying to link Obama and ACORN's mess, AND slam the poor/racial minorities/Democrats-liberals-progressives-leftists for the financial crisis. As I understand it Obama worked for ACORN. ACORN was a major player across the country in advocating for the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) to stop banks from redlining in poor/minority neighborhoods. (draw a red line around low and moderate income tracts and refuse to make loans to home owners and small businesses, (or in rural areas, smaller family farms), even as you take out deposits through banks in those areas. The money flows out to be invested elsewhere. This is huge on conservative sites. Progressives need to understand this issue.
The spin idea is the false claim that CRA forced banks to make bad loans to the poor/racial minorities/family farmers. In fact, CRA makes no such requirement and banks are responsible for any bad loans they made. What is called for are good loans in these areas. CRA does give clout to stop redlining. Individuals and groups can post comments in public CRA files and protest against applications by banks to regulators (for new offices, ATM machines, etc.) Almost never have those protests stopped what banks wanted to do, but the pressure has led to agreements with community organizations which have led to massive reinvestment in these areas.
I once heard John Nelson, (president of Norwest Bank in Iowa at the time,) tell a group, basically, "you've made us better banksers. I wouldn't have said that at the beginning. ACORN has often heard this as well, as their staff have told me in Philadelphia and Houston.
Carter signed CRA and Clinton signed a revision.
FCC public airwaves laws need the same clout so we can better take on the daily multi-hour Republican "commercials" of Rush Limbaugh and others, including CRA bashing.
Be sure to look at the evidence on CRA and the financial crisis and spread the word. See the January 2008 study by Traiger and Hinkley LLP that found evidence that CRA's impact may have helped lessen the financial crisis. They found, for example, that banks using CRA were "66% less likely ... to originate a high cost loan" than other lenders. These loans were priced, on average, "68 basis points lower." They also found fewer foreclosures where there were brick and mortar banks in metropolitan areas. On the other hand, banks making loans in CRA (low and moderate income) census tracts made only 25% of the home loans in these metropolitan areas. This reduces these positive impacts on the total mortgage lending crisis.
The title of the report is: "The Community Reinvestment Act: A Welcome Anomaly in the Foreclosure Crisis." Just google the subtitle
To my knowledge ACORN used CRA to force banks to make loans to sub prime borrowers on homes and business's, the foreclosure rate would of course be higher. As to the leverage used by ACORN is that different from a large Corporation using its money to force a bank to give it advantageous loans? I don't see the difference. You use what you have.
I'd be surprised if there is one CO in the country that hasn't worked for or with ACORN. Must be getting desperate.
ACORN started out as a good idea, now its a bit sidetracked with its staff a bit more interested in funding and salaries in some areas. It also gets far to much Federal funding in my opinion. Thats brought on some of these problems I understand. This part is what I've been told, not personal knowledge, so be guided accordingly.
That CRA is more than a small (small) part of this mortgage mess is just to laughable to believe. I guess if my folks who were in charge for the last eight years and mainly resopnsible for the deregulation that allowed this to happen, I'd be making a mountain out of this mole hill too. Make no mistake though, Republicans, Neocons, Democrats-liberals-progressives-leftists, libertarians all have plenty of blame for this financial crisis.
I dunno
This story is starting to get "Legs"
According to STATSIndiana, In 2007, Indianapolis/Marion County had an estimated population of 876,804. Of that number 232,607 were below 18 years of age, for a total of 644,197 people in Marion County/Indianapolis 18 or over and thus eligible to vote. (Indiana allows felons to vote as long as they are not incarcerated).
So we have 644,197 people eligible to be registered in Marion County/Indianapolis, and 677,401 people registered. Congratulations go to Indianapolis for having 105% of its residents registered!
The Feds are investigating vote fraud on a "Massive" Scale and the breadcrumbs all lead back to ACORN
This is just a rumor...and I will add a link when I see one, but the Chicago Rumor Du-Jour is Federal Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald (not exactly a Republican Patsy...ask Scooter Libby) is opening an investigation against ACORN and the Obama Campaign for RICO Violations (Rezko must be singing like Joe Valachi!)
The New York Times (smirk giggle wiggle wink) reports that the voter registration rolls may have been illegally purged in Colorado, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Nevada and North Carolina. Is it a coincidence that these are swing states?
You don't have to be an Obama supporter to support following the law during elections. These shenanigans could be applied to any candidate. Despite the restrictive nature of our electoral system (I want proportional representation), it's what we have and we should take care of it.
Joe