OH Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner, linked to ACORN; how many more Dem SoSs?

ACORN is not going to be the boogeyman that Republicans want to make of it. Both parties know where their electorate is advantaged and disadvantaged, and both parties skirt ethical lines in favor of rules that protect their turf.

Republicans benefit from eliminating voters from the rolls, because voters with new or less well documented registration information are far more likely to be Democratic voters, while the opposite is true for Demcrats who gain an advantage by every possible registration being eligible.

What is truly sad is that there seems to be no one favoring honest enfranchisement of every citizen. All we have are Republicans looking out for their electoral interests and Democrats looking out for theirs. While I don't disagree that ACORN has some unethical practices, I also know that Republicans (paid Republican government representatives) have practice that are just as unethical.

One example, and there are similar examples in every battleground state, is what is happening in my home state of Colorado. We have a Republican Secretary of State in Colorado named Mike Coffman, he is also running to replace Tom Tancreado in my district. Coffman has made a ruling that thousands of new voter registrations should not be added to the voter rolls because of a checkbox that was not completed. This checkbox relates to a choice people have to identify themselves using EITHER their drivers license number OR the last four digits of their Social Security number. Tens of thousands of people who have attempted to register to vote entered one or the other, but failed to check a box stating they do not have "have" a driver's license or ID card, in most cases because they did have such an ID, but not necessarily on their person, and they did provide the required alternative information. Coffman tried to reject every single registration in which this check box was not completed, even though the actual required information was included in the registration.

This is a nakedly partisan and unethical attempt to suppress newly registered voters which are trending heavlily towards Democrats. Fortunately, the Colorado courts agree, and these voters will not have their votes set aside as provisional ballots to be thrown away in all cases except for a recount scenario, they will be counted.

But don't pretend that ACORN is the problem when it is just the other side of the electoral strategery.

Mickey Mouse won't be voting, but if Republicans have their way, neither will hundreds of thousands of real voters.

This is all fixable, but unfortunately it would have to fixed in the courts, since the federal government cannot legislate the manner of enfranchisement that states choose, because states are Constitutionally mandated to determine their own methods of registering and counting votes. The Supreme Court could, under the 14th Amendment, provide some strict guidance on what must be done in order to provide equal protection for voters across the country.

But partisan arguments that point to ACORN fall flat coming from the party that is actively attempting to stop legitimate voters from having their voices heard.

Cap

"It seems to me that what ACORN was doing was ripping off the people who were paying them money for each registration they made. "

This is essentially true, the bogus registrations will not turn into votes. Critics argue that these bogus registrations clog up the system and harm the process, but part of the problem is that election supervisors generally require that every single registration form be returned, whether it is completely fully and correctly, spoiled, or simple completed with bogus information so a minimum wage worker can collect a paycheck for turning in forms with writing on them. The elections boards have these rules in place primarily because they do not want a GOTV group to submit registration for their party and discard registrations for peope who identify with the party they do not favor.

However, ACORN critics also argue that there are also duplicate registrations, whereby someone could theoretically, (and criminally) vote in multiple precincts.

Republicans are also critical of ACORNS existence as a government supported organization that also appears to be a partisan Democratic GOTV arm.

I believe that the only this last aspect is a genuine problem. I agree that the government should not be funding a partisan GOTV organization. And the sad thing is that simply having an arganization who's goal is to register low income voters would be a defacto Democratic advantage, ACORN has gone too far in vocalizing explicit support for Democrats.

Where was this supposed outrage when the maker of Ohio's voting machines stated "I will do whatever is necessary to get George W. Bush re-elected" in 2004?!?

Oh, right, THERE WAS NONE FROM THE RIGHT.

ESaD, please.... ESaD