From the pages of 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.

-- Modified on 10/10/2008 10:51:55 PM

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.

There is not other side to one person being registered 72 times, to Acorn already pleading guilty to fraud, or to fictitious people voting.

Asking Bertha Lewis, the NY head of ACORN, "the other side," is like asking a criminal "the other side."

I know. I am involved in criminal defense.

Can you give a link on that one? Was it a local ACORN or the national group?

Our justice system is based on hearing "the other side." Hence we have a defendant and prosecutor. ACORN pleading guilty to fraud is new information to me. I'll look that up.  



-- Modified on 10/11/2008 10:55:02 AM

-- Modified on 10/11/2008 7:04:41 PM

I wonder if we were to ask these folks - newly registered as they are - what constitutes the 5 major issues facing our country today what they would provide in way of an answer....

As I speak to those on the right and the left, I am amazed at how little then know... to register more ignorant of problems, issues and the two leading candidates proposed solutions to them, I think disingenuous... come on - lets be real, ACORN is, in some states, registering voters and strongly suggesting who the newly registered voter should vote for - hardly a bipartisan effort - and then they wonder why the opposition is upset.

I go back to the intent of the founding fathers - that is that an INFORMED citizenry participate in the election process - and that there be some certification of "informed"

course I understand that is just being a "racist"  but really - is it?  Many white folks... would not be eligible to vote under my plan.... many (including most of my relatives).

any possibility that the fake or duplicate registrations are intentionally being planted by the Republican side in order to create the appearance of voter fraud, thus creating an opportunity to disqualify minority voters because they are likely to vote Democrat ????????

INFORMED citizenry participate in the election process?? ... half of the participants on this board would not qualify ... LOL...

In an ideal world, yes, informed citizenry should be the criterion ... but as a practical matter, that is an idea that is D.O.A.

Gosh, if you really want to get picky and parse words, ACORN didn't plead guilty.  But a number of its members have.  

Combined with other investigations, it is pretty obvious that they are engaging in a pattern of crimnal conduct.

The Gambino family, as an organization, and the Crips and the Bloods - as organizations - have never been convicted of anything.  But when you have large numbers of their members engaging in similar kinds to conduct, one can say the Gambinos, Crips, and Bloods are guilty.

Now, if you want to he picky and examine each word, that would be wrong.  Sorry.  But that is one reason I don't like my fellow attorneys.

-- Modified on 10/11/2008 11:53:22 AM

As to "any possibility that the fake ...registrations are intentionally being planted by the Republican side ...to create the appearance of voter fraud"

Everything is possible.  However, there has been no evidence of that, so it is a nice thing to make up.  Personally, I think it might be Martians who support Obama because he is from Venus, which is closer to Mars than Earth is.

But, sadly, there is no support of my Martian theory either.

Lacking any evidence for the GOP did-it theory or the Martian did-it theory, it remains likely that the group with a history of similar conduct is up to its old behavior

That quote I gave says that ACORN itself turns in their people who have violated the law. I don't think the Gambino family or the Crips do any such thing. Some kind of an code of ethics prevents it . . .

Like the Gambino family, if ACORN itself has a pattern of voter fraud, what they can get hit with is RICO or conspiracy charges. So, yes, the organization itself can be found guilty.

BTW, I encourage you not to nitpick and come back saying that, really, RICO wouldn't be aimed at ACORN itself...

-- Modified on 10/11/2008 7:14:26 PM

A bunch of people faked the registrations for the wage because they were too lazy to do the work.

Nothing sinister here ... if the registrations are fake, then the fake names can't mysteriously vote.  THERE IS A DIFFERENCE BETWEEN REGISTRATION FRAUD & VOTER FRAUD.

"Occam's Razor"   a principleo ften paraphrased as "All other things being equal, the simplest solution is the best."