Who is ACORN, why are they under investigation?

[FatSlob]

I just saw a thing on the tube that said they were being investigated for false voter registrations in multiple states.

[lil-petunia]

1. A Conservative Org, Repub. Nerds?

I thought I read that they were sponsored and funded by the RNC.

[LuminousX]

2. Google it.

[FatSlob]

4. they seem pretty benign n/t

[rinsd]

3. It's a community support/activist group

Here's a link to their website

http://www.acorn.org/

Here's a local news link on the investigation

http://www.wftv.com/news/3848828/detail.html

Here's how they have been in the news according to google

http://news.google.com/news?q=acorn&hl=en&lr=&sa=N&tab=wn

[Parche]

5. ACORN

They are a bunch of NUTS

[ArkDem]

6. The investigation may lead to

OAK

[On the Road]

7. ACORN is a Fine Organization

What tends to happen is that they get poorly-trained people to knock on doors and register new voters. Some overeager people make up names and submit them as new voters. Some groups (I don't know if ACORN does this) pay the workers based on the number of new registrations, which creates a financial incentive for false registrations.

Nothing I've seen suggests that it's organized or promoted by ACORN. The investigation looks like intimidation. However, it's completely fair that the individuals responsible should be penalized within the law.

One thing to keep in mind about stories like this. Republicans try to depict these stories as evidence that Democrats are trying to steal the election. But as far as I know, there is no evidence that these false registrations result in ELECTION fraud.

Think about it. Some of the stories have people registering names like Mary Poppins and Mickey Mouse. Do you think anyone is going to show up on election day and identify themselves as Mickey Mouse? No, the false registrations just sit there and are never used. The canvasser usually does it to fill a quota or make more money.

[roseBudd]

8. The people who were hired weren't so much poorly trained as they

were poor and they were registering the poor. I also registered the poor who often were staying with a sister one month and a girlfriend the next. In addition as someone who canvasses in poor neighborhoods I can tell you that the mailbox, doorbell labeling is extremely poor. That may new registrations were undeliverable does not surprise me. That some poor ACORN employees may have tried to get a little extra out of their paychecks also does not surprise me. This does not constitute vote fraud.

[On the Road]

9. It Was Based on Their Being Undelieverable?

That's ridiculous. There is a whole business discipline of accurate addressing for mailing bills, ads, and other customers letters. I was the contact for the Sprint organizations for a little while, for example. Undeliverable mail is a very common problem and in the business world it's rarely due to intentionally bad addresses.

If that's what's happening, it's really desperate. And yes, poor people often move without leaving forwarding addresses.

[roseBudd]

12. Yes the fraud is being alleged because of undeliverable mail

I checked voter registrations I got before submitting and I had to look up zip codes, etc. When I did walk lists for the Kerry campaign we found no names on buildings with multiple mailboxes/doorbells.

[On the Road]

13. Oh Dear God, Then They're Really Full of Shit

I mean, how can it be fraud if they're not even registered? Isn't delieverable mail a requirement for a successful registration?

[Radical Activist]

10. Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now

A great liberal group that organizes in low income communities.
They have a very strict method of checking for voter fraud to make sure they don't turn in bad registrations.

At the same time, they have registered over 1 million people to vote this year, mostly in swing states. When you do a drive that size there is bound to be a few mistakes made. It's also very likely that Republican Officials who are intimidated by a bunch of poor black people voting will be eager to accuse ACORN of wrongdoing.

[Radical Activist]

11. Because they are registering poor black people to vote

I should have just broken it down that way from the start. That is the motivation behind any "investigations" of their drive.