ACORN may be victim of its own workers in registration cases

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.kansascity.com/449/story/871038.html

Greg Gordon
McClatchy Newspapers

WASHINGTON — Republicans and their allies in the media and on the Internet are ramping up allegations that the liberal-leaning nonprofit voter registration group Acorn is trying to steal next month's presidential election for Democrat Barack Obama.

Conservative media outlets and Web sites are focusing on Acorn, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. According to TVeyes.com, Fox News alone has mentioned Acorn stories 342 times in recent days.

In nearly a dozen states, county registrars have found phony voter registration applications submitted by canvassers for Acorn; criminal investigations are under way in Nevada, Ohio and elsewhere; and a racketeering suit was filed in Ohio this week. The mounting evidence of Acorn's sloppy management and poor supervision, however, so far doesn't support the explosive charges that the group is trying to rig the presidential election.

Larry Lomax, the registrar in Clark County, Nev., said he'd estimate that 25,000 of the 90,000 applications submitted by Acorn this year were duplicates or phony.

However, Lomax said in a phone interview with McClatchy: "I don't think Acorn consciously sets out to turn in fraudulent forms. I just think the people they hire find it incredibly easy to rip off their bosses and turn in fake forms."

While he criticized Acorn's quality control, Lomax said he doubted that any of the fake filings would result in fraudulent votes.

Election officials say that registrations under names such as Mickey Mouse or Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo suggest that Acorn workers were trying to fill their quota of 20 applications to get paid, not to steal the presidency. They say that county registrars or poll workers would flag such obvious pranks, and that anyone who signed a poll book in another person's name would risk being prosecuted for a felony.

FULL 2 page story at link.

[FLyellowdog]

1. Simple solution to this problem....

workers can't get paid until registrations are verified. It would mean a delay of payment, but it might stop falsifications from being turned in.

[Idealism]

2. Its far from the first case

of a group or company having lax oversight ~_~
ACORN has grounds for lawsuits against their own workers more than the GOP has premise for lawsuits claiming voter fraud

[Duke Newcombe]

3. Thanks, Kansas City Star. Nothing like...

...two days before the election to finally find your way to the clue train, and understand what the rest of us figured out within the first hour of this story breaking. Amazing.

[azurnoir]

4. Did it ever occur to anyone

that for atb least some of ACORN workers turning in false voter registration forms ACORN may have been their "second" job their first being with the RNC?