Posted on 10/10/2008 8:14:09 PM PDT by Jet Jaguar
The district attorney for the Pittsburgh area is investigating possible forgery and other irregularities on voter registration forms turned in by a group already being scrutinized for registration problems in other states.
Similar allegations are being investigated by the Delaware County district attorney and the U.S. attorney's office in Philadelphia.
The Pittsburgh-area investigation focuses on fewer than 100 registration forms apparently forged or otherwise illegitimate, such as duplicating the name of someone already registered under another party, said Mike Manko, spokesman for Allegheny County District Attorney Stephen Zappala Jr.
The forms were collected by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN, Manko said. The investigation mirrors others throughout the country in which ACORN canvassers allegedly turned in forms with fake Social Security numbers, incorrect birth dates, forged signatures or fake addresses.
Pennsylvania Republican Party chairman Robert Gleason Jr. said ACORN and others submitted nearly 253,000 voter registration forms in Philadelphia this year. Thousands of them have errors, he said. Delaware County officials are also investigating more than 290 registration cards, Gleason said.
Philadelphia's voter registration administrator, Bob Lee, said 57,000 of the 253,000 registration forms were rejected, but that more than 41,000 of those were filled out by people who were already registered.
He acknowledges that some of the other 16,000 rejected voter cards are troubling _ in particular about 5,600 that include nonexistent addresses. Others were rejected for being too young or not including a birth date. Others list an incorrect Social Security or driver's license number, which could be simple mistakes or attempts at fraud, Lee said.
"So, there's an issue here," Lee said.
Patricia Hartman, a spokeswoman for federal prosecutors in Philadelphia said she could not comment on whether they are investigating the Philadelphia registrations. Delaware County's DA didn't return calls.
ACORN claims to have registered about 1.3 million voters nationwide this year and is facing similar questions in Nevada, Wisconsin, North Carolina, New Mexico, Michigan, Ohio and Missouri. Officials in Nevada said some bogus registration forms used the names of Dallas Cowboys players.
ACORN's stated mission is to help low-income citizens organize politically. The group describes itself as nonpartisan, though Republicans contend it is aligned with Democrats and the Obama campaign.
Allison Price, a spokeswoman for the Obama campaign, said, "We haven't hired ACORN or any outside group for our general election field effort, but anyone violating election law should absolutely be held accountable."
ACORN issued a statement Friday claiming to have registered 40,000 southwestern Pennsylvania voters this year, and calling media reports about the national fraud allegations an attempt by "a relatively small group of political operatives ... trying to orchestrate hysteria about 'voter fraud.'"
Maryellen Hayden, ACORN's head in Allegheny County, told local reporters on Thursday that eight ACORN workers are targeted in the Pittsburgh-area investigation. She said workers were warned not to fill in the registration cards themselves and that other workers double-check the cards for legitimacy.
Allegheny County elections director Mark Wolosik said the county vets each new registration card and referred some questionable ones to the district attorney.
"It might be that somebody's already registered in the file by that name and the signature doesn't match, or the birth date is off by one day, or a street number is listed that is not in the range of street addresses in Allegheny County, for instance," Wolosik said.
Forgery is a felony, Wolosik said, punishable by up to seven years in prison. But he suspects the real problem is that ACORN workers were filling in a few bogus names to meet an unstated quota.
Hayden on Friday said "canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card, so there is no incentive for them to falsify cards," though she also told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that canvassers are asked "to collect between 15 and 20 signed voter registration cards in five hours."
Pennsylvania registration workers cannot be paid based on the number of cards they turn in. If someone is found to have violated that prohibition, he could be charged with a third-degree misdemeanor punishable by up to one year in prison, Wolosik and Manko said.
Voters who arrive at the polls to find fraudulent cards were filled out in their names can request a provisional ballot. Once the voter's identity is confirmed, the person's vote will be counted.
Newly registered voters are asked to show IDs to confirm their identity, Wolosik said.
ho hum...what else is new.
All hail the messiah!
Could these ACORN voters be disallowed when they go vote? Would their ballots be cast as provisional ballots on election day? If it’s a close election, could re-counts in some states hinge on whether ACORN votes are legit?
These are just some questions I have. We can avoid lots of trouble if McCain wins a big enough victory so that re-counts or provisional ballots won’t be mathematically able to make a difference.
Obama has been directly tied and involved with ACORN, for a long time, and through his instrumentality we are seeing our free market and our voting process subverted and deconstructed before our very eyes.
But there is hope, despite what the push polls are saying, and Obama and his campaign and the MSM all know it, and fear it.
ping
Lies up and down the article, but no more than 1 or 2 per sentence. From the democrats.
Bump
Couldn't be the Hill or Homewood/Brushton could it? Opps, that might be racist.
BTW, I never heard of this ACORN group. They never seem to be around to sign me up.
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