On CNN today: Acorn engaging in massive vote fraud.

by BurnTheShips 45 Replies latest social current

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  daniel-p

  I don't doubt that there's groups like this who take their "zeal" too far. There's crazies everywhere.
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  SixofNine

  A Note On The ACORN Matter

  Probably some of the sheets turned in by the paid circulators are padded and contain false names. Sheets often, even when compiled scrupulously, contain errors. Some of the claims sheets are 'fraudulent' are themselves based on illegality, because they stem from matching against Social Security data, which is not supposed to be employed for this purpose. Current regulations require all sheets collected to be turned in, after scandals in '04 when some bogus Republican-sponsored groups did not turn in sheets collected in Democratic areas. Prior to this, ACORN weeded through and eliminated the 'Donald Duck' style entries, and other obvious mis-statements. Now they cannot do this. So a good portion of the instances giving rise to these charges are the result of a poorly thought through regulation, that persons of ill will are rushing to exploit. These charges are stemming mostly from places where Republican political machines have control over the process, whether at the state or county level. Near to my home, the mention of 'Lake County, Indiana' as place where ACORN was 'engaged in fraud' brought tears of laughter, as that is an extraordinarily corrupt jurisdiction, that makes Cook County look like Minnesota by compare. It is worth pointing out that the numbers appearing so far, hyped though they are, are not large enough to strike me as consequential. ACORN does not account for anything like all new registrations of Democratic voters, and even if all this is sustained (which would itself be an exercise in fraud by local authorities), our registration will be greatly increased, as will our turn-out. ACORN is a very effective community organization, with a long record of success in housing and voting issues. It has been a target of Republican hate and disparagement for some time, precisely because it is effective, and good at what it does. This assault on ACORN has two purposes. First, to try and hamper the organization's broader work, and second, to lay an alibi in place for the looming Republican defeat, that will keep the Republican 'base' frothing with rage, and the sense of being cheated that is so essential to their emotional make-up. The Republicans are worried stiff that without governing power at the national level, their unwieldy coalition of working class religious bigots and wealthy free-marketeers will fall apart.
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  TopHat

  Hehehehe Lefties trying to cover over the dirt by making any excuse for their communist leader Obama...That is to damn funny
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  skeeter1

  Maybe Russia can supervise our election? Since Acorn's problems are massive and spread through various offices in various stats, I think the problem is at the top. I think it has to do with the compensation scheme, $$ per vote; as well as a desire to cook the books towards the Democrat party. Are any of the "Jive Turkeys" or "Football Stars" or other fraudulent registrations registered to the Republican Party? There lies the big question and the answer.
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  snowbird

  ACORN

  ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, is the nation's largest community organization of low- and moderate-income families, working together for social justice and stronger communities.

  I wish I had known about them in 2000 when I nearly lost my home!

  Sylvia
• 

  Gopher

  I prefer the system we have in Minnesota where you can either pre-register or register on the same day by bringing a valid photo-ID to your precinct's polling place.

  This CNN report focused on an issue with registration in the Chicago area. Obama is going to easily carry Chicago and his home state, so I don't see why any trickery needs to be done on his behalf there.

  As the woman shown in the registration office said, there is no fraud yet -- only the potential for fraud if the votes were actually carried out. Of course the assumption is that the majority of these new registered voters (real or not) would be Democratic.

  There is a massive GOP effort to discredit ACORN, and possibly to disenfranchise actual minority voters: http://www.bradblog.com/?p=6480

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

  I had been intending to post an answer to the ongoing --- and quickly escalating --- ACORN smears being issued of late by the GOP enemies of democracy out there, who have decided to intensify their unsubstantiated assaults on the community organization, given its effectiveness at registering millions of low-income voters across the country.

  Today's incredible raid of an ACORN office in Las Vegas --- in hotly contested Nevada, as coincidence would have it --- has forced me to push this to the top of the heap right now. I've also posted ACORN's statement on today's nonsense in Vegas at the end of this article. Note to corporate media: Be sure not to read or report on that part of the story!

  With prospects looking bleak for the Republicans this November, pulling out the old ACORN lie --- in hopes of scaring people away from the polls, causing chaos in November by challenging voters when they show up to vote, and putting in place baseless grounds to contest close results later on (when the GOP become "sore losers") --- is just about all they have left at this point.

  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 have been all too happy to pass that garbage on, without bothering to note that, in fact, the organization attempts to authenticate every registration form its workers submit and by law they must turn in every form to election officials --- 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 do so, and they flag all questionable registration forms as being suspect before turning them in to officials.

  The thanks they receive for registering millions of new voters that nobody else has bothered with, and for notifying officials about questionable registration forms when they turn them in, is that the GOP's democracy-hating propagandists and election officials run to the media shouting, "ACORN is committing voter fraud! They've turned in hundreds and thousands of fraudulent registration forms!"

  Of course they have. They have to. By law. But what those GOP despots of democracy always forget to mention is that it was ACORN themselves who notified officials about the potentially fraudulent and/or incomplete forms in the first place!...

  (blog article continues....)
• 

  hemp lover

  From an internal ACORN memo:

  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: 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: 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.

  http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/10/acorn_rallies_its_troops.php
• 

  Double Edge

  Maybe it's different in my state,

  You ain't kidding it's different.... in California you just show up, no i.d. required (the Dems got that past a few years ago), no problem. Not shown on the public records? ... no problem, they'll give you a provisional ballot. Afraid your provisional ballot won't be counted? .. no problem.... they count it unless it's a REAL close election, then they go back and will MAYBE check the provisional ballots. Don't speak English,? .... no problem... pick your language, they have a ballot.

  Our true democracy is slowly being disolved.
• 

  TheSilence

  So I'm not attacking, or anything, I'm really just trying to understand... so please take my questions for what they are... a request for more information so I can understand since I know very little about this myself.

  Okay, from what little I've read this group gives bonuses to workers for the amount of non-registered people they get registered to vote. Is my understanding of this correct?

  If this is correct does it not make sense that some less than honest workers would be registering made up people and such in order to reach bonus levels?

  If so does the fact that non-people are registered to vote matter if they aren't actually allowed to vote? I've always had to provide ID, etc., to vote. Certainly fluffy the cat isn't going to show up and attempt to vote, right? Or are there allegations that this organization is also getting social security numbers and state IDs under these non-people's names and planning to come in and vote as them?

  My understanding is that Obama donated $800,000 to this group. Is there anything that shows that he was aware of the fraud going on, actively participated in the fraud, or requested that the fraud happen? I mean, if he just thought they were a good group that got people signed up to vote and active in the governmental processes that effect their lives and didn't know they were operating in fraudulent ways how is donating money to them a scourge on his record?

  Again, I'm not saying he wasn't in the wrong, I'm just trying to understand. These aren't things I have seen answers to and I think they are important things to know and get all viewpoints on.

  Thank you in advance for your patient answering of my questions for those of you who take the time to do so.

  Jackie
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  TheSilence

  hemp lover,

  Thank you in advance, that answers a few of my questions before I even posted them ;)

  Jackie