October 16, 2008

• From a little ACORN …

  Last night during the Presidential Debate, John McCain brought up the ACORN organization.  He described them as  “maybe perpetrating one of the
  greatest frauds in voter history in this country, maybe destroying the
  fabric of democracy.”

  In a country with an extensive history of suppressing the votes of minority groups, that’s a bold statement, but was it true?  I did a little web surfing today and here’s what I found.
  

  ACORN hired 13,000 workers to
  register a remarkable 1.3 million new voters. And a few of them turned in registration forms with inaccurate and even made-up
  names to get credit for work they didn’t do. ACORN fired them and turned them over to the authorities.

  In most states, ACORN is required by law to submit all forms collected whether they appear to be bogus or not—that
  way election officials, not partisan groups, can make the call. ACORN flags cards that may not be legitimate. And in many
  places, the charges of fraud only came up because ACORN was the one who flagged the cards!

  No one is allowed to vote unless they
  are properly registered. And there is no evidence of false registrations actually leading to organized voting fraud.
  
  

  http://acorn.org/quickfacts
  
  There are a lot of things that bother me.  I’m bothered when the tea I order costs $2 and tastes like water.  I’m bothered when I work all afternoon on an analysis and someone sends me a document that they “forgot” earlier that changes the whole thing so I have to do it over.  I’m really bothered when my kids don’t pick up their laundry and their room starts smelling like something died in there. 
  
  I get angry over a few things.  When we have powerful people attempting to prevent low-on-the-totem pole people from voting, I feel angry. 
  
  In the United States of America, we ought to be about promoting the exercise of voting rights.  Period.  We need to be doing everything we can to help people be registered, informed, and able to participate in government.  Its terrible that an organization that has dedicated itself to helping people learn to vote was defrauded by some of its employees.  It’s much worse when a politician who’s seeing his chances for election diminish hourly would seize upon this as an excuse to launch lawsuits designed to suppress votes.
  
  We don’t require people to own property to vote in this country, people like me who rent are supposedly welcome.  But to the families hurting from the pain of foreclosure, the GOP won’t rule out using residency change to challenge a ballot,”
  Indianapolis Star, October 3, 2008
  
  http://www.moveon.org/r?r=31237&id=14429-10830728-PWbWIGx&t=9

  The Justice Department did some research after charges from the Bush administration that there was widespread voter fraud and what did they find?  “In 5-Year Effort, Scant Evidence of Voter Fraud,” New York Times,
  April 12, 2007
  
  http://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/12/washington/12fraud.html

  “The Truth About Fraud,” Brennan Center for Justice
  
  http://www.truthaboutfraud.org/

  “After A Surge in Registration, A Surge in Suppression,” Brennan Center for Justice, October 7, 2008
  
  http://www.moveon.org/r?r=31236&id=14429-10830728-PWbWIGx&t=8

  I hope that you will vote.  Even if you disagree with me, I want you to vote.  I want you to get out there, inform yourself about the issues, make up your mind based on information and not just soundbites. 

  I hope that you will look around and see if the League of Women Voters in your area has provided the same service they provide here in the form of printed information you can pick up from the library in which candidates from both sides answer the same survey so you can compare them side by side.  They print the wording of bond issues and referendums.  They make it possible for you to get information without the hysteria and nonsense. 

  And I hope that you will defend your neighbor’s right to vote. 

  We have been really loud-mouthed around the world about the need for other nations to protect voter rights, what a shame if here at home we are asleep on the watch. 
  

  
  

  • 9:19 pm
  • 13 Comments