ACORN/target

==Insights about Voter Registration Drive in Ohio==
===ACORN accused of registering fake voters===
: Thursday, August 28, 2008, Joe Guillen, Plain Dealer Reporter
A national organization that registers low-income people to vote has cut back its push in Cuyahoga County after workers were accused of registering phantom voters.
The Cuyahoga County elections board is investigating ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has submitted about 75,000 voter registration cards to the Cuyahoga board this year.
No one knows how many registrations were faked, but the voter registration department received so many suspicious cards that it began compiling a binder with evidence. The binder grew to be an inch thick.
Board employees said multiple ACORN workers often handed in registration cards listing the same people but showing them living at different addresses. Other times, multiple workers submitted cards with identical voter names but showing different dates of birth.
"I'm obviously very concerned," Board Chairman Jeff Hastings said. "This goes to the essence of our democracy."
ACORN had a part-time staff of 30 who worked five days a week to find unregistered people.
The workers were paid $8 an hour and had to sign up 20 voters per five-hour shift.
The elections board said in a report that ACORN's quota contributed to the possible fraud.
ACORN stopped the registration efforts of the part-timers on Aug. 15, 2008. Three salaried employees continue the drive to sign up voters.
At its Tuesday meeting, the elections board canceled five fraudulent registrations submitted by ACORN workers. 
The cases involved people who already were registered to vote and were alerted to the fraud through notifications that they had been newly registered.
Elections officials do not expect fraudulent registrations to affect the November election. Betty Grant Edwards, manager of the board's registration department, said voters must provide identification before voting, listing a current address.
If the names and addresses don't match, voters receive provisional ballots, which are not counted until registrations are verified.
ACORN is a national organization that promotes social justice for low and moderate-income families. It is among many groups that register voters.
In August 2006, elections boards in Franklin County and Summit County investigated potentially bogus registration cards submitted by ACORN.
The Franklin board turned over 500 cards to its county prosecutor, but no charges resulted.
ACORN's national voter registration director, Kimberly Olsen, said Cleveland voter registration efforts have been wildly successful.
"We hit our goals early, registering 86,000 people in Cleveland proper," Olsen said Wednesday in a written statement.
Category:News coverage