[Vision2020] Voter-registration can't be totally fraud-free, group says

[No Weatherman]

Voter-registration can't be totally fraud-free, group says
Voter-registration group cites lack of resources
Wednesday, October 08, 2008
Joe Guillen
Plain Dealer Reporter
A national voter-registration group admitted to Cuyahoga County
election officials Tuesday that it cannot eliminate fraud from its
operation.

The group blamed inefficiency and lack of resources for problems such
as being unable to spot duplicate voter-registration cards or cards
that may have been filled out by workers to make quotas.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN,
has turned in at least 65,000 cards to the Cuyahoga County Board of
Elections in the last year. The board has investigated potentially
fraudulent cards since August.

The group has faced similar inquiries in other large Ohio counties.
And Nevada state authorities recently raided ACORN's Las Vegas
headquarters searching for evidence of fraud, according to the
Associated Press.

Local representatives of the organization told Cuyahoga board members
that they don't have the resources to identify fraudulent cards turned
in by paid canvassers who are told to register low- and
moderate-income voters.

Cuyahoga election workers flagged about 50 names on suspicious cards.
The cards were to register the same names, raising the possibility
that canvassers shared information when trying to make quotas.

"This is not something you can catch with your internal controls,
apparently," said board member Sandy McNair at the meeting.

"Not perfectly, no," replied Mari Engelhardt, ACORN political director for Ohio.

Once stacks of registration cards are returned to ACORN offices,
workers verify information by calling the phone number provided on the
card, the board was told. If information is missing or ACORN
identifies a suspicious card, it is given to the Board of Elections
with a notice that it could be problematic.

ACORN workers who double-check cards can't be expected to remember
names and addresses previously verified, said Teresa James, an
attorney for Project Vote representing ACORN.

Engelhardt said supervisors sometimes fail to prevent different
canvassers from attempting to register the same person.

"We do not have the resources to know if a particular card is
fictitious," James said.

Voter-registration organizations cannot, by law, withhold registration
cards from election boards. The groups are obligated to report
potential errors, a spokesman for Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner
told The Plain Dealer.

Kris Harsh, ACORN's head Cleveland organizer, blamed the elections
board for not scrutinizing ACORN's suspicious cards. He said the group
can't be expected to catch everything.

"None of us have ever achieved perfection," Harsh said.

The elections board will continue its inquiry Monday, when it expects
testimony from three people it will subpoena after a review of the
ACORN investigation. The names appeared on multiple registration cards
submitted by ACORN and other organizations.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter:
jguillen at plaind.com, 216-999-4675

http://www.cleveland.com/plaindealer/stories/index.ssf?/base/cuyahoga/122345478771640.xml&coll=2&thispage=1