Glenden BrownACORN: Setting the Record Straight
From Open Left:
ACORN has implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic. ACORN flags in writing incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in. Unfortunately, some of these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards. In many cases, we can actually prove that these are the same cards we called to their attention. Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card. ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement. The rate of incomplete cards for the drive was 5 percent (about 65,000 cards) and the rate of “suspicious” cards was 1.5 percent (about 19,500 cards). [snip]
. . . in the past few weeks alone, ACORN staffers have received death threats in Ohio and Rhode Island, and offices have been vandalized in Washington and Massachusetts. Numerous threatening and racist phone calls have been made to ACORN offices across the country. As the Right’s actions have made plain, what’s at stake here is not simply what happens on November 4th, but whether or not American citizens will be able to exercise their most basic right: the right to vote.
October 24th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Not a lot of “bad registrations” in the entirety - but surely enough to influence an election in, say, Florida or Ohio. Right?
Let’s be realistic, here. If it was a Republican vote drive group, there’d be howls of protest from folks like the D-tripleC and Larry, wouldn’t there?
Either way, 5% is a big number. So’s 1.5%.
So - for fun’s sake, and in the interest in reconciliation - how about the areas where ACORN held voter registration drives agree to require state issued photo ID at the polls?
That will assuage folks on the Right who suspect massive Daly style voter fraud and moot their objections to possibly having a “Mickey Mouse” vote in the Presidential Election.
Fair?
October 24th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
Actually JD I rather doubt that the raving righties will be assuaged by anything with regard to ACORN. They’ve decided ACORN is the devil incarnate. Hell, McCain himself declared they’re trying to destroy democracy.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:03 pm
Here’s an idea, jd . . . how about we have election officials put a hold on “suspicious” and “incomplete” registrations and allow people to cast votes according to the laws as they currently stand in their jurisdiction?
If questions arise at the polls as to whether or not someone is registered, presumptive voters should be allowed to cast provisional ballots until such time as a valid registration can be confirmed and their vote counted.
Fair?
October 24th, 2008 at 3:10 pm
Why do you guys bother. Jd has probably never seen the inside of a polling station and never will even if he gets out (his IP is coming from some country club prison) before his own stench suffocates him.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
No jd, it wouldn’t be “fair” to require state issued photo ID, at least not anywhere where it is currently not required (which I believe is everywhere, but I could be wrong). Such requirements inordinately disenfranchise the poor and the elderly as there are greater numbers of both who do not have state issued photo IDs. Furthermore, to institute a requirement so close to an election would certainly place an undue burden on those who were expecting to be able to vote without such ID at hand.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Lucky bastard got my old cell.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:16 pm
Cliff,
Personally, I bother for two reasons. One, because I might change jd’s mind (unlikely as it sounds). And two, for the benefit of others.
As for jd’s IP, maybe he works at a “country club prison”?
October 24th, 2008 at 3:30 pm
Go ahead, Cliff. Post my IP addy.
You might be right - or more likely, you’re full-o-crap. And even if it is a “country club prison”, what country?
Anyway, have you ever heard of VPN? How about Remote Desktop?
The thing is, Don - Cliff is just irate that he can’t go after me on a personal level. His arguments won’t hold water so that’s what he has to resort to.
October 24th, 2008 at 3:35 pm
Any comments about this story currently appearing in the Right Wing Media?
October 24th, 2008 at 3:38 pm
Don? Why would this be true?
For almost a decade I worked with the poor. They needed state issued ID to access various welfare programs (food stamps, health insurance). The elderly would require the same to access SSI, etc.
October 24th, 2008 at 4:31 pm
Is a state issued voter ID required to access welfare programs and/or SSI?
October 24th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
Don,
I considered that possibility (JD is a prison guard) but given his very defensive reaction, I’m pretty sure he is a ‘guest’ at the prison.
October 24th, 2008 at 6:04 pm
Don - in the States I’m familiar with, a State issued ID is necessary to use Food Stamps. For SSI, State of Fed ID will suffice (can you imagine the amount of fraud if it didn’t?).
Cliff - you still don’t have a clue….
Hey, still wanna do that bet? The $2 million one?