One Man Registered Nearly 2,000 Nonexistent Voters in Seattle For ACORN

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Our friends on the left like to insist that there is no evidence of an organized effort at voting fraud.

Here's an interesting article from CNN:

SEATTLE, Washington (CNN) — Clifton Mitchell helped register nearly 2,000 voters for the community group ACORN. But not one of them actually existed.

Clifton Mitchell filled out voter cards using fake birthdays, Social Security numbers and baby-name books.

"I regret it. I paid the price for it," he said.

Mitchell was convicted last year and spent nearly three months in prison. He's one of the few ACORN workers convicted of voter registration fraud.

Today, he lives with his wife and two boys, ages 3 and 1, in a small apartment in suburban Seattle, Washington. Mitchell said he scammed the system because, "I needed money; I had to support my family and I was new to the area. It was the only job I had."

Mitchell said ACORN threatened to close the office if he and his team didn't meet their quota to register 13 to 20 voters a day. So, without consulting their supervisors, he said, they came up with a plan.

"We came up with the idea: Let's make fraudulent cards. I tell my crew, 'I don't care how you get 'em, just get 'em,' " Mitchell recalled.

For starters, think about what we're witnessing here - we've got thousands of registered voters who don't exist. Think about how that skews the statistics of voter turnout; if if every actual voter showed up, you would still be about 2,000 votes short of 100 percent turnout. Let's presume that none of these fake voters is ever used for voting fraud. Even then, considering how low turnout is what is used to justify motor-voter laws, same-day voter registration, longer voting hours, easier absentee ballot rules, etc., these groups are creating a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Now, Mitchell is confessing to fake voter registration but not fake ballots. Let's presume a more enterprising criminal knows that he's successfully registered an extra 2,000 people that don't exist. It's fairly easy to apply for absentee ballots for all of those voters, and then fill them out in favor of said criminal's preferred candidate. Yes, federal law now requires first-time voters to show ID or submit photocopies of their ID with their absentee ballot. If election officials do their job, they disallow "thousands" of votes for a particular candidate, potentially from a poor or minority neighborhood (where groups like ACORN seek out new voters). The election officials' decision creates instant controversy and fodder for claims of a stolen election; lawyers can begin arguing that the ID requirement is disallowing thousands of legitimate votes.

The fact that thousands of nonexistent people can get into the system as registered voters doesn't, ipso facto, prove the existence of organized voter fraud. But it does show that our system's safeguards are insufficient, and that there are those who will eagerly commit fraud for the mild motivation of $8 an hour, nevermind helping the candidate they prefer.

10/23 10:58 AM Share