ACORN: 'We've been here before'

From the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:

Editorial: We've been here before

ACORN’s mission, it says, in registering some 1.3 million new voters this election season — about 31,000 in Wisconsin — is to give electoral voice to low- and moderate-income communities.

Scary stuff.

Well, it is, judging from the backlash the organization is encountering - and not just in Wisconsin. Nationwide. "Voter fraud!" is again the rallying cry.

Lesson previously learned: Allegations of massive voter fraud, shouted from the rooftops in election season, are something far less when the dust settles. In Wisconsin, ACORN is being excoriated for submitting registration cards found to be fraudulent and hiring seven felons as deputy registrars, those workers who try to get people to register.

...Here's what else you should know about these charges on ACORN's efforts in about 11 states.

The organization is obligated to turn in every registration card completed, even, as one spokesman put it, if it has the name Daffy Duck on it. The organization says it segregates and flags suspect cards to election authorities. It apparently doesn't catch all of them. But a vast conspiracy? We're doubtful. If a worker taking illegal shortcuts fakes a name on a registration card, that act overburdens election officials, but do we really think that the faked person will vote?

Voter registration fraud, when it occurs, is a serious matter, and it's obvious that even if ACORN is catching many, the number of bad registrations it is turning in points to quality control problems. However, most of the cards submitted, said Milwaukee's top election official, appear to be good.

If the past is prologue, much of this ballyhoo is really about those new voters and who they might vote for.

Yes, we've been here before. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel Editorial Board is serving as an apologist for practices that undermine Wisconsin's elections.

In the case of the presidential election, it's serving as an apologist for those wishing to undermine the value of votes cast across the nation.

Once again, the Board puts forth the notion that voter fraud is not a serious problem. No big deal. Let the dust settle. The uproar over ACORN and its fraudulent registrations is really much ado about nothing.

I couldn't disagree more. I disagree with the Board's attitude about the "ballyhoo," diminishing the significance of fraud. It argues that fraud is not all that widespread. No big whoop. That's an irresponsible stance.

Gun violence resulting in murder isn't common; but when it occurs, we react with horror and take dramatic steps to address it. As a civilized society, we need to maintain order and assure the safety of the community. We don't shrug it off simply because murder isn't the norm, yet that's what the Board is suggesting we do when it comes to fraud -- take a deep breath and just get over it.

I also think it's absurd to believe that ACORN is fit to police itself. Certainly, not every problematic registration is as easy to spot as one by the name of "Daffy Duck." For every 50 that are caught by ACORN, that doesn't mean that 150 others aren't out there.

The Board is completely unwilling to rectify the problem, instead making up excuses such as relying on the assumption that it's unlikely "that the faked person will vote."

Banking on that alleged unlikelihood is unacceptable.

The Board is content with Milwaukee election officials' assertion that most registrations "appear to be good." That appearance isn't good enough. There needs to be verification.

Rather than calling for a thorough investigation into ACORN, the Board diminishes the significance of the "charges on ACORN's efforts in about 11 states." Rather than seeing the fraud as possibly the tip of the iceberg and responding with appropriate alarm, the Board prefers to ignore the potential scope of the fraud. That's reckless.

Why is the Editorial Board content to be so relaxed about the already verified instances of fraud found in BATTLEGROUND states across the country?

If past is prologue, much of the Board's railing against cleaning up the voter rolls and its disinterest in maintaining the integrity of elections is really about the candidates the fraudulent voters in Wisconsin and other states might vote for.

If a conservative organization in Wisconsin were found to have registered the starting lineup of the Dallas Cowboys and Daffy Duck, I doubt the Board would be arguing in its favor.

It's a disgraceful display. It's pure politics.

Bottom line: Since ACORN advances a liberal agenda and supports liberal candidates, its sloppiness and outright lawlessness is tolerated. In fact more than tolerated, the Board wants to protect it.

Barack Obama's ACORN tree.


(h/t Flopping Aces)

"Hi, we're ACORN and we're gonna beat McCain down."

Would the Editorial Board have the same opinion on ACORN if the chant were, "We're gonna beat Obama down"?

Answer: NO
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BOGUS VOTER BOOTED AMID PROBE OF ACORN

Investigators probing ACORN have learned that an Ohio man registered to vote several times and cast a bogus ballot with a fake address, officials said yesterday, as they revealed that nearly 4,000 registration applications supplied by the left-leaning activist group were suspect.

The vote of Darnell Nash, one of four people subpoenaed in a Cuyahoga County probe of ACORN's voter-registration activities, was canceled and his case was turned over to local prosecutors and law enforcement, Board of Elections officials said yesterday.

Nash had registered to vote repeatedly from an address that belonged to a legitimately registered voter, officials said during a hearing at which the subpoenaed voters were to testify.

Board officials had contacted Nash this summer, questioned his address and told him to stop repeat registering.

But still, he breezed into Ohio election offices - the state allows early voting for president - reregistered with a fake address and cast a paper ballot, officials said.

"He came in on 9/30 and Mr. Nash again registered to vote at [someone else's] address, and he cast a ballot," said board official Jane Platten.

Nash did not turn up for the hearing.

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ACORN registers Mickey Mouse

Mickey Mouse tried to register to vote in Florida this summer, but Orange County elections officials rejected his application, which had an ACORN stamp on it.