A question about the ACORN scandle.

[kane]

I have been reading about the ACORN issues over the last few days and wonder to myself how their fraud can help or hurt a candidate.

The way I understand it they have registered many fake voters. There are duplicate registrations and some that are just flat out made up and are completely false. Obviously these people don't exist and can't vote and if you send in 20 copies of the form all with the same info on it they will just disregard the 19 duplicates (and maybe all 20 of them) so you won't be able to vote 20 different times.

From what I understand most of this comes from the fact that they pay people per registration so the more they get the more they get paid and they are lying to pad their pockets. But the republicans are going after Obama for this saying he is using them to pull of voter fraud. I don't understand how that works. These registrations have to go to the state elections officer and be certified so if they are false they will be tossed out. One person isn't going to be able to vote 75 times (you would at least hope the state had enough of a handle on things that this wouldn't happen) so how does a bunch of fake voter registration applications help Obama other than maybe making it look like he is registering more people than he actually is?

Any insight?

[SoloGirlsContent]

it's a non issue..merely a GOP talking point, since they are losing BIG TIME across the board

[directfiesta]

We have elections today in Canada ...

We have an electoral list ( a list of voters ) and we receive a reminder card at home. When voting, our name is crossed off the list and we must show a valid picture ID...

We are supposevely, to americans, a moose country ...

Can't the mighty USA have a permanent voters list ????


As for Acorn, McCain was also a supporter... want the youtube video ?

[fsudirectory]

Yea,

Its just a buncha bullshit. Mickey Mouse isnt going to walk into the polling booth.

The real problem is that it prevents the real applicants from getting through efficiently because a buncha people gamed the law that say they must turn in every application that is filled out.

Much of this fraud was found by ACORN themselves... Sounds like they are trying to defraud!

[TheDoc]

I don't know what the direct connection to Obama is personally..

Maybe he was a board member of some board, that had an uncles moms aunts dog that he bought as a 3 year old, and that connects him some how.

And I agree, I don't see how this hurts or benefits either of the candidates.

[tony286]

Obama Campaign's Response to McCain's ACORN Letter

September 23, 2008

Honorable John C. Danforth

Honorable Warren B. Rudman

McCain-Palin 2008

P.O. Box 16118

Arlington , VA 22215

Dear Senator Danforth and Senator Rudman:

We have received your letter of September 15, 2008, informing us of the formation of what you call the "Honest and Open Election Committee" by the McCain-Palin Campaign.

However attractively labeled, this seems a starkly political maneuver to deflect attention from the reality of the suppression strategies pursued by national,state and Republican party committees. This has been the shameful history of the party from the Goldwater "Operation Eagle Eye" program to the present day?a history replete with instances of systematically planned and executed programs to block access to the vote for targeted communities of voters.

In 2004, the Republican Party, on the eve of the general election, mounted challenges to tens of thousands of voters in Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin based on "caging lists," that is, lists of returned mailers or based on similar information providing no legitimate grounds whatsoever for such challenges. None of these challenges, to our knowledge, was upheld and accusations of voter fraud by national Republican Party leaders were proven utterly baseless.

Now,in 2008, the Republican Party again appears determined to engage in tactics and strategies to deny the right to vote to qualified citizens:

· In Michigan, the chairman of Macomb County Republican Party has threatened to use lists of persons whose homes have been foreclosed to challenge those persons at the polls. Only after public exposure, did he deny that this was the plan for Macomb County, and this matter is now before the federal district court for the Eastern District of Michigan.

· In Florida, the RNC has mailed non-forwardable letters to Democratic voters asking them to "confirm" their party affiliation as Republican?thereby raising doubts about their registration status and creating the basis for possible challenge lists. Even top Republican election officials in Florida, including the Secretary of State,have publicly condemned this tactic.

· In Wisconsin, the Republican Attorney General, who serves as co-chair of the McCain-Palin campaign in the state, has filed suit challenging the refusal of the state?s own election administration authorities to throw thousands of voters off the rolls based on dubious and impractical matches of identifying information.

· In Ohio, Republicans are challenging the decision of the Secretary of State to allow first-time voters to obtain an absentee ballot at the time they register even though the law clearly affords this right.

Manifestly, the confusion,uncertainty, deprivations of rights and interference with efficient election administration created by these tactics, and similar ones that the Republican Party has used in recent election cycles, cannot be effectively addressed by the creation late in the day of "committees" with gloriously self-serving names. Rather, the best way to address them is for responsible Republican leaders like both of you to speak out, loudly and forcefully, to condemn these tactics, to insist that they be shut down once and for all and then to make sure that they are.

This is what we would hope that you could accomplish. If your concern truly lies with 'Honest and Open Elections", then your work is properly and effectively begins at home--with the Republican operatives who are planning and running these suppressive programs and who are being directed in these activities by the same national McCain and party leadership that recruited you to this "Committee".

Sincerely yours,

David Plouffe,

Campaign Manager, Obama for America

[directfiesta]

it is so awfull !!!!

[kane]

Originally Posted by directfiesta

We have elections today in Canada ...

We have an electoral list ( a list of voters ) and we receive a reminder card at home. When voting, our name is crossed off the list and we must show a valid picture ID...

We are supposevely, to americans, a moose country ...

Can't the mighty USA have a permanent voters list ????


As for Acorn, McCain was also a supporter... want the youtube video ?

Part of the problem in the US is that our voting rules vary from state to state. My state votes by mail. So a week or so before the election I get a ballot and have to mail it in or I can hand it in on election day at the post office. They verify my info that is on the envelope and ballot that I signed against a voter roll database and once my ballot is scanned I am removed from the list so I can't vote again. Other states you have to walk into a poll and show an ID and they check the rolls.

So there are rolls, but there are major issuses with them and they are often corrupt. In the last two elections the person in charge in Florida (2000) and Ohio(2004) of overseeing the voter rolls and rules were both also in charge of Bush's campaign in that state. To me that is a huge conflict of interest and in Florida there were cases where the woman in charge "accidentally" purged the wrong people from the list so they couldn't vote.

[baddog]

Originally Posted by simonsyinister

it's a non issue..merely a GOP talking point, since they are losing BIG TIME across the board

Until the Democrats start whining that their voters are being denied access due to the fucked up records.

Originally Posted by directfiesta

We have elections today in Canada ...

We have an electoral list ( a list of voters ) and we receive a reminder card at home. When voting, our name is crossed off the list and we must show a valid picture ID...

We are supposevely, to americans, a moose country ...

Can't the mighty USA have a permanent voters list ????

People move. We tie local elections in with state and federal. People get their right to vote denied by committing felonies. People get married. We have a lot more people than you do.