House Committee Approves Voter ID Reform

Oklahoma State lawmakers voted today to target voter fraud by requiring that Oklahoma citizens provide proof of identity before voting in an election.

"Any election reform package approved this year must start with voter ID as its foundation," said House Speaker Chris Benge, R-Tulsa. "Our top priority is to ensure the integrity of our elections, and to do that we must ensure that only eligible voters cast ballots."

House Bill 1037, by state Rep. Sue Tibbs, would require citizens to provide "proof of identity" before voting. Under the bill, proof of identity could be established by producing a document containing a photograph of the voter that was issued by a state, federal, county, municipal, or tribal government.

"For Oklahomans to have faith in our election process, we cannot tolerate any opportunity for voter fraud," said Tibbs, R-Tulsa. "This legislation provides a simple, cost-effective way to guarantee that no Oklahoman is disenfranchised as the result of illegal votes."

Under the bill, if a voter is unable to produce a photo ID, that person can sign a statement under oath swearing to his or her identity.

Anyone found to have signed the oath falsely would be subject to felony punishment.

In recent election cycles there have been reports of voter fraud in numerous states, prompting lawmakers to enact new reforms.

For example, ACORN, a liberal activist group that has registered millions of voters across the country, has been embroiled in countless fraud allegations and was the subject of an FBI investigation.

Some ACORN employees were accused of submitting false voter registration forms – including some signed `Mickey Mouse' and several in Nevada listing Dallas Cowboys players’ names, though none of the players live in the state. Another Nevada ACORN worker was caught filling out voter registration forms using names and addresses copied out of the telephone book.

The U.S. Supreme Court has upheld a similar law in Indiana that required voters to show photo identification.

Last week, former Federal Election Commissioner Hans von Spakovsky noted in the Wall Street Journal that Georgia and Indiana saw record numbers of Democrats vote in November, despite having some of the nation’s toughest voter ID laws.

"With every election that has occurred since states have begun to implement voter ID, the evidence is overwhelming that it does not depress the turnout of voters," von Spakovsky said in the Journal. "Indeed, it may actually increase the public’s confidence that their votes will count."

House Bill 1037 passed out of the House Rules Committee today. It will next receive a vote from the entire Oklahoma House of Representatives.

ACORN PAY OFF from Democrats' ?

U.S. House
Republican Leader
John Boehner
sends out this warning:

The House Democrats’ trillion dollar spending bill, approved on January 21 by the Appropriations Committee and headed to the House floor next week for a vote, could open billions of taxpayer dollars to left-wing groups like the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN).

ACORN has been accused of perpetrating voter registration fraud numerous times in the last several elections; is reportedly under federal investigation; and played a key role in the irresponsible schemes that caused a financial meltdown that has cost American taxpayers hundreds of billions of dollars since last fall.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) and other Republicans are asking a simple question: what does this have to do with job creation? Are Congressional Democrats really going to borrow money from our children and grandchildren to give handouts to ACORN in the name of economic “stimulus?”

Incredibly, the Democrats’ bill makes groups like ACORN eligible for a $4.19 billion pot of money for “neighborhood stabilization activities.” Funds for this purpose were authorized in the Housing and Economic Recovery Act, signed into law in 2008. However, these funds were limited to state and local governments. Now House Democrats are taking the unprecedented step of making ACORN and other groups eligible for these funds:

“For a further additional amount for ‘Community Development Fund,’ $4,190,000,000, to be used for neighborhood stabilization activities related to emergency assistance for the redevelopment of abandoned and foreclosed homes as authorized under division B, title III of the Housing and Economic Recovery Act of 2008 (Public Law 110–289), of which—

“(1) not less than $3,440,000,000 shall be allocated by a competition for which eligible entities shall be States, units of general local government, and nonprofit entities or consortia of nonprofit entities[.]”

“(2) up to $750,000,000 shall be awarded by competition to nonprofit entities or consortia of nonprofit entities to provide community stabilization assistance […]”

The House Democrats’ trillion dollar spending bill also includes $1 billion for the Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program. CDBG funds are given by the federal government to state and local governments which often contract with nonprofits for services related to the purpose of the grant.

ACORN knows how to secure CDBG funds. Audit reports filed by ACORN’s headquarters with the Office of Management and Budget show that ACORN spent $1,588,599 in Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) Program funds from FY 2003 through FY 2007. It is not clear from these records when or from what source the funds were awarded to ACORN. It is also not clear whether ACORN chapters or affiliates have received CDBG grants on their own.

House Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH) repeatedly urged President George W. Bush and other federal officials to withhold taxpayer funds from ACORN, including $17.2 million in federal grants awarded in December 2008 after numerous allegations of wrongdoing in connection with ACORN’s election activities were reported by the news media.

Leader Boehner also released a study of federal records in October 2008 listing tens of millions in federal grants received by ACORN. A new updated and more expansive study reveals that ACORN has actually received millions more than first thought. A review of the Federal Register and news releases issued by federal agencies showed that ACORN was awarded more than $53 million in taxpayer dollars. This amount does not reflect the millions more ACORN has received in federal block grant funds awarded to state and local agencies which passed them on to ACORN.

Another ACORN employee pleads guilty to election fraud charges

A 34-year-old Chester man arrested last month for alleged voter-registration fraud admitted his guilt yesterday in Delaware County Court.

Jemar Barksdale, an ex-employee of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), was accused of turning in voter-registration cards for 18 already-registered voters, altering information, and forging signatures.

He entered a negotiated guilty plea to charges of forgery, identity theft, and tampering with public records, said Deputy District Attorney Greg Hurchalla.

Under the terms of the agreement approved by Delaware County Court Judge Patricia Jenkins, Barksdale, who spent about a week in prison on the charges, must serve six to 23 months on house arrest, undergo a psychiatric evaluation, perform eight hours of community service, Hurchalla said.

Ohio grand jury indicts man on 24 counts of election fraud

Grand jury indicts man in
voter-registration fraud

BY BRUCE CADWALLADER
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

An East Side man was indicted this week on charges that he requested absentee ballots and filed false voter registrations for himself and others, using a residential address that doesn't exist, Franklin County Prosecutor Ron O'Brien said Wednesday.

But no one with any of the names he used voted in the Nov. 4 election, either absentee or in person.

Antonio Alvande, 36, of 532 S. James Rd., was arrested Tuesday on a 24-count indictment charging him with 14 counts of false registration and 10 counts of absentee-ballot fraud.

He is scheduled to appear in court Friday.

Six other cases were forwarded to prosecutors by the Board of Elections last week, including one involving a woman who voted twice in different polling places and nonresidents who attempted to vote. More indictments are expected, O'Brien said.

In the Alvande case, O'Brien said the Franklin County Board of Elections flagged multiple forms before the election because they were from Apartment 326 at the same E. Broad Street address or were signed by the same person.

The address is a retail strip mall that includes a box-shipping store where Alvande rented post-office box 326.

A handwriting analyst confirmed that the forms were written and signed by Alvande, O'Brien said.

"This case is being prosecuted because of the signatures," he said. "Some people in this state don't think they are necessary" - a reference to statements made by Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner.

"Anyone who thinks that a signature is not necessary to deter or prosecute voter fraud is not living in the real world."

Meanwhile, Jeff Ortega, a spokesman for Brunner, said that Brunner "commends the Franklin County Board of Elections for following Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner's directive to investigate any and all instances of voter registration fraud and to report it to the proper authorities.

"This is proof yet again that the policies and procedures are in place to give voters the confidence in our great bipartisan election system.''

O'Brien told the elections board this month to discard about 1,000 provisional ballots without a signature, saying it's required under Ohio law.

Five voter-registration forms identified Alvande by name at three different addresses; nine others referred to seven fictitious people he identified as Democrats.

Of the 10 applications for absentee ballots, one was in his name and nine used names and addresses of others. Two belonged to real people.

A post-office box can't be used as an address for voter registration, said Ben Piscitelli, a spokesman for the elections board. Voters must have a verifiable residential address before voting absentee and must show proof of address when voting in person.

Voter fraud through false registration is a felony in Ohio, punishable by up to 18 months in prison.

Last year, a Licking County man who emigrated from Haiti and had registered in both Licking and Franklin counties was convicted of voting twice in the 2006 election. Claudel Gilbert said he was confused when registrations from both counties came to him in the mail. He was placed on probation and paid a $500 fine in what authorities said was the first conviction for illegal voting in Franklin County.

Catholic Church cuts off ACORN funding

The Roman Catholic Church is cutting off funds to the community organizing group ACORN, citing complaints over its voter registration drives in the November 4 election as part of the reason.

The Catholic Campaign for Human Development froze its contributions to the group in June amid allegations that Dale Rathke, the brother of ACORN founder Wade Rathke, had embezzled nearly $1 million.

This week, as the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops met in Baltimore, Maryland, the campaign's chairman said it was cutting all ties with the group.

"We simply had too many questions and concerns to permit further CCHD funding of ACORN groups," Roger Morin, the auxiliary bishop of New Orleans, Louisiana, told his colleagues in a letter to the conference.

The CCHD has donated more than $7.3 million to ACORN-related projects over the past decade, including $40,000 to an ACORN chapter in Las Vegas, Nevada, that was raided before the election in an investigation into fraudulent voter registration forms. Among other questionable documents, the ACORN chapter submitted registration forms for members of the Dallas Cowboys football team.

ACORN contends it has tried to help head off election fraud.

"In nearly every case that has been reported, it was ACORN that discovered the bad forms and called them to the attention of election authorities, putting the forms in a package that identified them in writing as suspicious, encouraging election officials to investigate, and offering to help with prosecutions," ACORN said in an October 9 news release.

Morin said a church review completed in November found ACORN no longer met standards of further funding.

The reported embezzlement dates back several years, but was only recently disclosed to ACORN board members and donors. Morin said the registration fraud complaints "raise additional serious concerns."

"Nonpartisan voter registration, especially in poor communities, is important and needed work. Too often, poor voters are not registered or are not encouraged to participate in the vital choices that affect their families and communities," he wrote. However, he said, the ban on donations to ACORN won't be lifted "until and unless it is clear that CCHD funds will not go to an organization that has engaged in unlawful activities or voter registration fraud."

In a statement to CNN, ACORN Executive Director Steven Kest said his group is grateful over the church's funding in the past.

"We look forward to continuing discussions with CCHD officials and the bishops in the months ahead in hopes that we can continue working together on projects, which have been so important to so many in low-income neighborhoods across the country," Kest said.

However, Ralph McCloud, the Human Development campaign's director, said the church has "severed ties" with ACORN and there are no plans for further discussion at this time.

Falsified registrations become votes

Falsified registrations become votes
By JOHN FUND

The liberal "community organizing" group ACORN became a campaign issue last month after Nevada's Democratic attorney general and its Democratic secretary of state teamed up to conduct a highly visible raid of the group's Las Vegas offices. They seized files on what could be thousands of fraudulent voter registrations.

After ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, complained the raid was a "stunt" designed to hinder its efforts at minority registration, Larry Lomax, the chief elections officer in Las Vegas, responded that the group's claims it had extensive quality controls to catch fraudulent registrations were "pathetic." He noted that ACORN had hired 59 inmates from a work-release program at a nearby prison and that some inmates who had been convicted of identity theft had been made supervisors. That led some local wags to joke that at least ACORN was hiring specialists to do their work.

ACORN's second line of defense has been that fraudulent registrations can't turn into fraudulent votes, as if the felony of polluting voter lists was somehow not all that serious. But that defense goes only a short distance. "How would you know if people using fake names had cast votes in states without strict ID laws?" says GOP Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita, who this year won a major Supreme Court case upholding his state's photo identification law. "It's almost impossible to detect and once the fraudulent voter leaves the precinct or casts an absentee ballot, that vote is thrown in with other secret ballots there's no way to trace it." ...

Cincinnati ACORN Employee Arrested For Prostitution and Possession of Crack Pipe

Shari Bell, a Cincinnati ACORN canvasser was arrested Wednesday night after she offered sex for money to an undercover police officer. Police also found a crack pipe in her coat pocket and Ms. Bell is now facing prostitution and drug charges.

ACORN head organizer for Cincinnati Amy Teitelman said that Bell did work for the organization as a canvasser.

This is not the first time we’ve reported on ACORN canvassers with “questionable” criminal backgrounds

ACORN affiliate staffer links donor list to Obama

Fired ACORN affiliate staffer
links donor list to Obama

By Brad Bumsted
STATE CAPITOL REPORTER

HARRISBURG -- A fired staffer for an affiliate of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now testified Wednesday the organization was provided a "donor list" from the presidential campaign of Barack Obama in late 2007 for fundraising efforts.

Anita Moncrief, a former Washington staffer for Project Vote, which she described as a sister organization of the community activist group ACORN, said her supervisor told her the list of campaign contributors came from the Obama campaign

Moncrief said she has a copy of a "development plan" that outlines how Obama contributors who had "maxed out" under federal contribution limits would be targeted to give to Project Vote, and that it was her job to identify such contributors.

Moncrief testified for more than two hours in a Commonwealth Court hearing on a lawsuit brought by the state Republican Party, alleging voter fraud by ACORN in Philadelphia, Allegheny, Delaware and Dauphin counties.

The action mirrors efforts by GOP presidential nominee John McCain and national Republicans to discredit ACORN and attempt to tie Obama to the group.

The state lawsuit against ACORN, its affiliates and Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro Cortes asks the court for a preliminary injunction. GOP lawyers want the court to force ACORN to make its voter database available and to require voter education efforts. They want the Department of State to make its voter registration database more readily available to counties, something a Department of State lawyer said Pennsylvania does.

The Obama campaign said it wasn't involved in ACORN registration drives.

"Our campaign has not coordinated with ACORN whatsoever on any voter registration activities," said Obama spokesman Sean Smith.

The McCain campaign later in a statement used Moncrief's testimony to criticize Obama. Her statement "proves Barack Obama is guilty of lying to the American people about his relationship with ACORN," the campaign said.

An Obama campaign spokeswoman last week said the campaign has "no ties" to ACORN.

Project Vote national spokesman Michael McDunnah denied the donor list came from Obama's campaign, according to The Associated Press. Donor lists for candidates are public information and can be downloaded from the Federal Election Commission's Web site. The lists include how much individuals have given.

But Heather Heidelbaugh, a Pittsburgh lawyer representing state Republicans, said the computer disk she submitted to the court as evidence did not come from FEC documents.

"It's not an FEC document. I looked at the spreadsheet," Heidelbaugh said.

ACORN officials said Moncrief is not a credible witness. "Moncrief has no idea what she's talking about," said Pennsylvania ACORN spokeswoman Ali Kronley.

Moncrief acknowledged she was fired in January from Project Vote for running up more than $3,000 in personal expenses on a credit card. She said she has paid half the money back, and "I am really sorry."

Moncrief testified that ACORN and Project Vote were virtually identical. Under cross-examination, she conceded she had no personal knowledge of how Pennsylvania ACORN workers registered voters.

Moncrief, 29, who lives in Virginia, said she took a call from an Obama campaign worker inquiring whether it was the same organization Obama worked with in the 1990s.

Moncrief said she received repeated warnings to "back off" from testifying by people she knows at ACORN.

"I thought it was powerful testimony. She took a great personal risk," said Heidelbaugh.

Carol Hemmingway of Philadelphia, another ACORN spokeswoman, said the group sets aside problematic voter registration forms and turns them over to authorities. She called the lawsuit "an attempt to suppress voters."

Hemmingway said Moncrief was not part of "senior management" at ACORN and can't speak for them.

Moncrief said she does not have a vendetta against ACORN. "I do not think it is a bad organization," she said.

Moncrief said she came forward and contacted Heidelbaugh because she believes vote canvassers were not trained and then were "thrown under the bus" -- facing possible criminal prosecution -- for fraudulent registrations. She said that workers needed to meet quotas for voter registrations and that some were fired for not meeting them.

"The (voter) cards are tied to money. The more cards you get, the more money you get," Moncrief said.

ACORN officials denied that, saying in Pennsylvania canvassers are paid by the hour. They insisted the workers are trained.

Kira Gardner-Marshall, who oversees quality control for ACORN in Philadelphia, said in 2007-08 the organization fired 220 employees for voter fraud there. There were 1,100 voter registration canvassers statewide, but none of the ACORN spokeswomen attending the hearing could say how many were in Philadelphia.

Brad Bumsted can be reached at bbumsted@tribweb.com or 717-787-1405

ACORN Owes Millions in Taxes

ACORN Owes Millions in Taxes
by Amanda Carpenter

An intrepid researcher has discovered more than 200 tax liens totaling more than $3.7 million have been filed by the government against the Association of Community Organizers for Reform Now for unpaid taxes since the late eighties.

A tax lien is issued when a person or organization fails to pay taxes and that tax debt is considered seriously delinquent. A lien is only issued after the government makes several unsuccessful attempts to collect the debt.

The conservative-leaning Capital Research Center’s Matthew Vadum found a staggering number of liens listed against ACORN’s national headquarters at 1024 Elysian Fields Avenue in New Orleans, Louisiana while conducting an exhaustive investigation of ACORN's history and current activities.

“I took that address and plugged it into Nexis and did a public records search for tax liens,” Vadum said. “At least 230 tax liens corresponded to ACORN’s address and they were all from ACORN’s shadowy network of affiliates.”

The liens filed against ACORN and their associated groups come from the Internal Revenue Service and government officials in fifteen different states.

75 of the 230 tax liens appear to have been “released,” meaning the full debt was paid or a negotiated payment was made for the debt. The rest are outstanding.

The "shadowy network" Vadum mentioned are the hundreds of ACORN offshoots housed at ACORN's official 1024 Elysian Fields Avenue address, such as Project Vote, ACORN Institute Inc., ACORN Housing Inc. Inc and Wal-Mart Alliance for Reform Now (WARN). One of those organizations is Citizens Consulting, Inc, which was paid nearly $800,000 by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama’s campaign to conduct get-out-the-vote activities during the Democratic primary.

While CSI raked in cash from the Obama campaign the IRS was preparing nearly a million in liens against ACORN. The IRS filed a lien on ACORN for $306,407 on March 6, 2008. A different lien was filed for $547,312 against ACORN on March 10, 2008 and another was filed on March 14 for $132,997.

Minority Leader Rep. John Boehner (R.-Ohio)and other Republicans have called on Congress to strip ACORN of their federal funding, which has received at least $31 million in various grants since 1998, because of ACORN's role in rampant vote registration fraud across the nation, but Democrats have not expressed any interest in doing this.

“ACORN is a relentless crusader for social programs and government wealth redistribution schemes and the fact they can’t be bothered to pay taxes speaks volumes about the integrity of the organization,” Vadum said.

Vadum recently published his report about ACORN and it is available HERE.

Ex-ACORN worker: 'I paid the price' for voter registration fraud

Clifton Mitchell helped register nearly 2,000 voters for the community group ACORN. But not one of them actually existed.

"I regret it. I paid the price for it," he said.

Mitchell was convicted last year and spent nearly three months in prison. He's one of the few ACORN workers convicted of voter registration fraud.

Today, he lives with his wife and two boys, ages 3 and 1, in a small apartment in suburban Seattle, Washington. Mitchell said he scammed the system because, "I needed money; I had to support my family and I was new to the area. It was the only job I had."

Mitchell said ACORN threatened to close the office if he and his team didn't meet their quota to register 13 to 20 voters a day. "We came up with the idea: Let's make fraudulent cards. I tell my crew, 'I don't care how you get 'em, just get 'em,' " Mitchell recalled. They took addresses from homeless shelters, used fake birthdays and Social Security numbers and took names from baby books to create voters out of thin air. "Every day I'd go to the library and get a newspaper," Mitchell said. "I had one guy who'd go to the phone book. Everyone had different methods."

The secretary of state called it "the worst case of voter registration fraud in the history of the state of Washington." ACORN was fined $25,000 and ordered to improve its oversight.

The group is under investigation in 10 states for voter registration fraud, and Republican presidential candidate John McCain's campaign has accused ACORN of trying to rig the election for Democrats.

Joe Biden Angered By A Few Questions LOL

Barbara West asks Joe Biden some real questions. She is an actual journalist.

Send her your support and encouragement: barbara.west@wftv.com

The Obama campaign whined about WFTV being "unprofessional" when it dared to dish out some tough questions to Vice President hopeful, Joe Biden.

PA: Another ACORN Employee Charged With Fraud

Delaware County officials have charged an ACORN employee for submitting 18 fraudulent registrations.

According to the District Attorney, as many as 500 other voter registration forms are being investigated.

'Princess' sent voter registration

'Princess' was sent a voter registration, But, 'Princess' ia a goldfish LOL

Lake County Illinois Clerk and State's Attorney call for investigation of possible voter registration fraud.

More ACORN fraud found in Cleveland, OH

Hat Tip to Genn X

The Cuyahoga County Board of Elections referred more 14 cases of potential voter registration fraud to the county prosecutor today as part of an investigation of suspicious registration cards submitted by ACORN.

The board voted on each case individually after reviewing copies of cards the registration department flagged as suspicious.

Of about 72,000 cards ACORN turned in this year, election workers found batches of cards with the same name but different addresses, mismatched signatures, or different Social Security numbers. More than 5,000 were missing information and could not be used. The board could not verify the address on 3,500 others.

The board referred four cases of potential registration fraud to the prosecutor last week. The county sheriff has subpoenaed employment records of 41 workers from ACORN’s Cleveland office.

A spokesman for Prosecutor Bill Mason said the investigation is ongoing. Charges have not been filed.

Rick Hasen on voting issues

Interview of Loyola Law School Professor and election law expert Richard Hasen by Newshour's Judy Woodruff, discussion of integrity of voting systems.

Rotten ACORN

Voter Registration Fraud DOES Lead to Voter Fraud
Posted by: Amanda Carpenter at 8:35 AM
The liberals defending ACORN's fraudulent voter registration efforts have said again and again voter registration fraud doesn't lead to voter fraud.

Well, we didn't have to wait till Election Day to find out they're wrong.

The Associated Press reported Friday that the New Mexico GOP found 28 people who voted fraudulently in Albuquerque during the June Democratic primary by absentee ballot. One of the ballots was cast from someone named "Duran-Duran"

The GOP's review was conducted in House District 13 and only included 92 ballots. That means roughly a third of the ballots examined were fraudulent.

This is a bombshell. We now have undeniable proof that a significant number of fraudulent voters were cast in Democrat primary races for the New Mexico state legislature as a result of ACORNs voter registration fraud, said State Representative Justine Fox Young (R.-Albuquerque). No longer can ACORN argue that their phony voter registration forms dont translate into fraudulent votes. They do and today we can prove it.

http://townhall.com/blog/g/c931ad6e-9ff5-4bca-96be-2ac7ac700f4f

Palestra.net: Out-Of-State Obama Worker Votes In Ohio

Hit Tip to Shelby @ palestra.net

ACORN Fraud in New Mexico - Duran Duran Registered and Votin

An investigation in New Mexico has revealed problems with 92 ACORN registrations in a Bernalillo County House District. Among the 92, investigators found a registration submitted for 80’s pop sensation Duran Duran.

At a press conference today, the New Mexico Republican Party provided evidence showing that at least 28 of those registrants had cast ballots in the state primary.

The Bernalillo County Clerk had recently forwarded more than 1,100 ACORN registrations to state and federal authorities for criminal investigation.

San Diego begins investigation into ACORN activities

An liberal activist group that is being investigated by the FBI for suspected voter fraud in at least eight states is now under investigation here in San Diego.

Accusations against ACORN include attempts to register voters under the names of the deceased and Disney characters.

San Diego's Registrar of Voters is taking steps to fight the possible fraud.

While investigators determine whether ACORN's problem is a conspiracy to commit voter fraud or just a few "problem workers" looking to pad their paychecks--as ACORN representatives claim--the group's registration of thousands of voters in San Diego is now suspect.

According to the Registrar's office, ACORN submitted more than 26,000 affidavits between January and September 2008, more than any other county in California. Some 4,600 affidavits were initially "red-flagged" for incomplete or invalid information, such as missing birthdays or bogus addresses.

Ultimately, about 7 percent of those questionable applications were rejected. Some were handed over to the Secretary of State's office for investigation.

The investigation is playing out in real-time in the presidential race, with the McCain campaign informing potential voters of Barack Obama's longstanding ties to the organization in Chicago.

A national spokesman for ACORN said it works to identify potentially fraudulent voter registrations by its employees and notifies election officials of any potential cases of fraud.

The national spokesman said that the problem is an issue of a few problem workers and not voter fraud.

News 8 tried unsuccessfully to speak with local ACORN representatives by phone and in person.

The 26,000 voter registration affidavits ACORN submitted between January and September 2008 represent less than 2 percent of San Diego County's 1.4 million voters.

Palin: Don't Turn The Buckeye State Into The ACORN State

Gov. Sarah Palin at her rally in West Chester, Ohio Friday, October 17, 2008:

"In this election, especially here in Ohio, you're going to be asked to choose between a candidate who will not disavow a group committing voter fraud and a leader who will not tolerate it. This group needs to learn that you, here in Ohio, you won't let them turn the Buckeye state into the ACORN state."