Do your basic research. ACORN is NOT a c3 organization in ANY of the states in which it operates in and it NEVER has been. It IS a non-profit, but it is NOT tax-exempt.

This is the specific reason why it is not subject to the same kinds of restrictions that tax-exempt groups face.

On the numbers: Project Vote and ACORN partnered in a voter registration drive that helped over 1.3 million people complete voter registration applications. Like most other registration drives, these were not all new voters. About 1/3rd were new voters. About 1/3rd were people who were previously registered voters but who had moved, necessitating re-registration in order to vote. Combined that was about 900,000 people who would not have been able to vote without the VR drive.

The remmaining 1/3rd consisted of the following groups: people already registered at their current address but wanted to ensure they were properly registered (of the 33% this was about 25 percentage points). Of the remaining 8 percentage points, about 6.5% were spoiled applications: unsigned, bad handwriting, incompletely filled out, etc. That leaves 1.5% that were “suspicious” or about 60,000 out of 1.3 million spread out over 70 metro regions. Some of these were fake cards submitted by ACORN employees trying to get paid for not doing the work, defrauding both ACORN and the system.

All cards were turned in, in compliance with many state laws that REQUIRE all cards gathered to be turned in. (Do you want ACORN or the GOP deciding who is and is not a registered voter?)

All of the cards were subject to strict verification procedures including 3 attempts to contact registrants to verify their information.

All of the cards were turned in in three bundles: verified cards, incomplete cards, and “suspicious” cards.

The reason you even know about these cards is because ACORN flagged them in the first place and notified the proper authorities.

ACORN’s overall error rate (6.5%) is lower than the error rate for every single DMV in the United States, but you don’t see them accused of fraud, now do you?

These attacks were widespread and nakedly partisan because the people making them were threatened by 900,000 of the “wrong” kinds of voters.

Just because you can Google pages of accusations against ACORN doesn’t make the allegations true.

And, it is worth noting, in every single case of former ACORN workers being charged with fraud, ACORN cooperated completely, often turning the worker in first, and applauds the prosecutions.

http://www.legis.state.ga.us/legis/2005_06/senate/mullisbio.htm

ACORN is a tax-exempt non-profit in many, if not all, states in which it operates. ACORN is apparently not, however, subject to political restrictions that many other groups face. That is why groups like Project VOTE “partner” with it for get out the vote projects.

BTW, Project VOTE says that ACORN only signed up about 450,000 new voters in their project, not the 1.3 million often reported.

and doesn’t ACORN then flag the suspicious forms?

so can someone tell me what all the hoopla is about?

It’s kind of interesting how a state senator manages to screw up the most basic piece of research in his rush to condemn an organization that seeks to bring new voters into America’s democracy – one of the most patriotic acts imaginable.

I hope he represents his constituents with more diligence than he does when engaging in baseless partisan attacks.