Defenses of ACORN

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Defenses of ACORN against its critics centered around several points:

• Regarding fraud in voter registration drives, the charges were overwrought.
• The organization turned in its workers who committed fraud to the authorities.
• ACORN was legally required to submit fraudulent voter registration cards in its possession, so it should not have been criticized for doing so.
• The problems were not widespread.
• ACORN did much good in terms of increasing the pool of minority and low-income voters who became registered to vote, and the value they added should have been seen as more than compensating for what they regarded as isolated acts of fraud.

ACORN's self-defense

ACORN admitted that some of its workers falsified registrations or turned in registrations with obviously fabricated information. ACORN said that these voter registration problems are not widespread and that some mistakes were to be expected with such a massive voter registration operation.. ACORN said that it had a zero tolerance policy and terminated any workers engaging in voter registration fraud..

ACORN said that laws governing third-party voter registration required them to submit even obviously false or fraudulent voter registration applications to election officials.

ACORN's fact sheet

ACORN responded to its critics on its homepage with a detailed fact sheet that explained their methods and system of internal controls. ACORN contended that:

• It "implemented the most sophisticated quality-control system in the voter engagement field but in almost every state we are required to turn in ALL completed applications, even the ones we know to be problematic."

• It "flags in writing incomplete, problem, or suspicious cards when we turn them in,. Unfortunately, some of these same officials then come back weeks or months later and accuse us of deliberately turning in phony cards. In many cases, we can actually prove that these are the same cards we called to their attention."

• "Our canvassers are paid by the hour, not by the card . ACORN has a zero-tolerance policy for deliberately falsifying registrations, and in the cases where our internal quality controls have identified this happening we have fired the workers involved and turned them in to election officials and law-enforcement."

• "No criminal charges related to voter registration have ever been brought against ACORN or partner organizations. Convictions against individual former ACORN workers have been accomplished with our full cooperation, using the evidence obtained through our quality control and verification processes — evidence which in most cases WE called to the attention of authorities."

• "Most election officials have recognized ACORN’s good work and praised our quality control systems. Even in the cities where election officials have complained about ACORN, the applications in question represent less than 1% of the thousands and thousands of registrations ACORN has collected."

• "Our accusers not only fail to provide any evidence, they fail to suggest a motive: there is virtually no chance anyone would be able to vote fraudulently, so there is no reason to deliberately submit phony registrations. ACORN is committed to ensuring that the greatest possible numbers of people are registered."

Further, ACORN defended its actions as a whole, stating that the fraudulent activities of a few of its workers should not taint the organization as a whole. Although ACORN admitted mistakes, it said that activities of the vast majority of its operation were legitimate..

Organizations and individuals defending ACORN

Media Matters

Since allegations of ACORN-related voter registration fraud began surfacing, Media Matters for America issued a stream of defenses of the group. In May 2004, The New York Times reported that Media Matters had received "more than $2 million in donations from wealthy liberals." According to the Cybercast News Service, Media Matters received financial support from MoveOn.org.

• O'Reilly vows "to document every ACORN situation and any other voter fraud" but has yet to mention fraud complaints against YPM, Oct 23, 2008.
• NBC reported on FBI's ACORN investigation, but not on DOJ regulations prohibiting leaks, Oct 19, 2008.
• Ignoring its own reporting, NY Times omitted key facts on ACORN voter registration allegations, Oct 17, 2008.
• CNN reports leave out relevant facts on ACORN voter registration allegations, Oct 16, 2008.
• ABC World News reported on ACORN but ignored voter suppression, including indictment of GOP official in NH case, Oct 15, 2008.
• Dick Morris baselessly accused ACORN of "committing voter fraud", Oct 15, 2008.
• WSJ editorial leaves out relevant information in smear of ACORN, Oct 14, 2008.
• Dick Morris falsely claimed Obama was "general counsel" for ACORN, Oct 14, 2008.
• Fox News' Kelly mocked ACORN for accurate statement about Florida registration law, Oct 14, 2008.
• Print media reported that Obama represented ACORN, but not that DOJ was a fellow plaintiff in the lawsuit, Oct 12, 2008.
• WSJ's Fund falsely claimed that ACORN "almost got a slush fund in the housing bailout bill", Oct 10, 2008.
• Media figures falsely accuse Democrats of attempting to direct millions of dollars to ACORN, Oct 1, 2008.

Film Director Robert Greenwald

Robert Greenwald, an American film director, political activist, and producer of documentary films such as Outfoxed: Rupert Murdoch’s War on Journalism, produced a short YouTube documentary, that he said showed Republican officials and candidates engaging in voter suppression through criticism of ACORN.

Micah Sifry

Micah Sifry, co-founder and executive editor of the Personal Democracy Forum, senior analyst with Public Campaign, and contributor to the Huffington Post supported ACORN and its affiliate the Working Family Party in his public commentary as well as on his Twitter account.

• Micah Sifry: Working Family Party Apologia, November 6, 2000
• Twitter October 17, 2008

Florida Governor Charlie Crist

Gov. Charlie Crist distanced himself, to some extent, from the rest of the RNC by making statements that were viewed as defenses of ACORN's activities in the state of Florida.

U. S. Representative Jesse Jackson, Jr.

Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. served as the national campaign co-chair for the Barack Obama presidential campaign and defended ACORN against allegations of vote fraud and voter registration fraud in nationally published articles. Along with his defense, Jackson accused ACORNs detractors of engaging in a widespread effort to suppress minority and low-income voters.

U. S. Representative John Conyers

Rep. John Conyers came to the defense of ACORN shortly following news that the FBI was starting an investigation into ACORN's voter registration activities. Conyers stated in a letter to the Justice Department that ACORN had "a longstanding and well regarded organization that fights for the poor and working class." He criticized the Justice Department "for leaking this story so close to an election.".

"As an initial matter, it is simply unacceptable that such information would be leaked during the very peak of the election season...Such leaks of information about ongoing criminal investigation matters are always inappropriate, and likely violate the provisions of the U.S. Attorney manual governing release of information about ongoing investigations (and which, in any event, would require approval from the responsible U.S. Attorney or Department division before release."

List of people who say that ACORN is legally obligated to turn in fraudulent cards

The following organizations and individuals were on the record saying that ACORN was legally obligated to turn in fraudulent voter registration cards.

• Dayo Olopade, a political reporter for The New Republic, wrote on October 22, 2008: "But ACORN is required by law to pass along all signatures to state officials, even ones that are obviously duplicates, so the argument that they're manufacturing them seems spurious."

• Wade Rathke, who wrote in the Miami Herald on October 21, 2008, "In nine of the 11 states where questions about ACORN's registration efforts have been raised, by law every voter registration form must be submitted, regardless of doubts about its authenticity."

• Media Matters for America, which said, "...the statutes of most of those states require third parties registering prospective voters to submit all registration forms they receive" and "...the statutes of at least nine of those 11 states require third parties registering prospective voters to submit to election officials all registration forms they received -- even those they believed to be false or duplicate applications."

• ACORN, which said, "We are required by law to turn in all forms."

• Bertha Lewis of ACORN, who said, "First of all, in every county when you register voters, you've got to turn in every single card no matter how weird or wacko it may appear, that's the law."

See also

• ACORN

External links

• Fact Check by the Annenberg Public Policy Center (dead link)