This is a great article on ACORN exposure...

Voter Fraud Watch:
Could ACORN Scandal in Washington Have Been Avoided With Photo ID?

by FOXNews.com
Friday, May 2, 2008


By Eric Shawn and Becky Diamond

Editor’s note: The following is the first in an ongoing series about voter fraud in the U.S. Send FOX News your leads about suspected or proven election fraud at voterfraud@foxnews.com.


The Supreme Court ruling earlier this week that allows states to require voters to produce photo I.D.s is drawing criticism from voter registration groups, including one that was busted for election fraud in 2006.

ACORN is trying to register one million new voters this year and brands the decision, “One more strike against the basic right to vote … that further disenfranchises people of color and low income Americans.”

But if photo I.D. requirements had been the law in Washington state, the voter fraud scandal involving ACORN in 2006 would never have happened. According to Washington Secretary of State Sam Reed, the incident “was the worst case of election fraud in our state’s history. It was an outrage.”

Two years ago ACORN submitted just over 1,800 new voter registration forms, but there was a problem. The names were made up — all but six of the 1,800 submissions were fakes. Reed said he was appalled.

“There is nothing more fundamental to a democratic republic and to a citizen of the United States than participating in selecting your public officials. For people to undermine that and try to perpetuate fraud on the system is an outrage,” he said.
The ACORN workers told state investigators that they went to the Seattle public library, sat at a table and filled out the voter registration forms. They made up names, addresses, and Social Security numbers and in some cases plucked names from the phone book. One worker said it was a lot of hard work making up all those names and another said he would sit at home, smoke marijuana and fill out the forms.

John Jones, the head of ACORN’s Washington state office insists the situation was isolated

“It was a difficult time but you know what, that was the exception and not the rule. The exception was that something did not go right,” Jones said, denying that the organziation was responsible.

When authorities saw the forms ACORN’s employees submitted, they suspected they were forged. King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg filed felony charges against seven of the workers, five of whom pleaded guilty and went to jail.

Satterberg said showing a photo I.D. when people sign up to vote is the best way to prevent voter fraud.

“The most secure way to make sure the people who are coming to register are the people that they say they are is to require a picture I.D.”

But despite the scandal, ACORN believes that kind of requirement is too restrictive. Jones is proud of his organization’s record.

“We registered 40,000 people to vote (that year) so that made it a great year but you know we had a group of people who made a very, very bad move. When we found out we had a small handful of morons who decided to take it upon themselves to defraud the people of Washington state. … We (were) upset,” he said.

ACORN paid a $25,000 settlement and agreed to monitoring of its voter registration efforts. While the ACORN office in Tacoma is still signing up new voters, no one needs a photo I.D. to register or vote. The democratically-controlled state Legislature turned that idea down.

Tell us your voter fraud story at voterfraud@foxnews.com.