Cross-posted at 21st Century Democrats blog.
Afraid that they will lose this election, Republicans have turned ACORN into the boogie man. They are making baseless claims that ACORN is perpetuating voter fraud due to its voter registration activities.
In fact, the Republican National Committee’s chief lawyer has labeled ACORN a “quasi-criminal organization,” and McCain’s campaign has launched ads accusing the group of “massive voter fraud” and bullying banks into making risky home loans. McCain’s camp is also trying to link Democratic Sen. Barack Obama to ACORN. Last night, McCain said, “ACORN is destroying the fabric of democracy.”
Rather than cower in fear, 21st Century Democrats is proud we honored Katy Gall of Ohio Acorn with our 2008 Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award. And we are equally proud to have honored Ohio Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, as one of our Leaders-in-Action – another target of Republican voter suppression tactics.
Now we will be partnering with No Voter Left Behind to fight voter suppression and vote theft in Ohio and throughout the country because these charges are just another chapter in the long history of conservatives trying to suppress and steal votes.
Paul Weyrich, “father” of the right-wing movement and co-founder of the Heritage Foundation, Moral Majority and various other groups telling a gathering of conservatives that he doesn’t want people to vote. In fact he says, “Our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”
Here are some additional facts:
- ACORN has helped 1.3 million citizens from all parties and all walks of life register to vote.
- In most states, ACORN is required by law to turn in every voter registration card – even in cases where the cards are not valid.
- It is ACORN that has reported almost all of the issues regarding voter registration cards.
- Invalid voter registration cards do NOT constitute voter fraud. Even RNC General Counsel Sean Cairncross has recently acknowledged he is not aware of a single improper vote cast as a result of bad cards submitted in the course of an organized voter registration effort.
- A 2005 study by the League of Women Voters and the Coalition on Homelessness and Housing in Ohio found that only 4 of about 9, 000,000 votes cast in the state from 2002-2004 were fraudulent.
Here are some additional links to the voter suppression efforts in Michigan this cycle: Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3.