For The Last Time, It’s Not Voter Fraud!

Ken AshfordElection 2008Leave a Comment

I'm hearing it all the time on the 24 hour network stations, and not just Fox.  They keep calling the ACORN thing "voter fraud".

This is the meme coming from the right-wing blogs, and it could be nothing further from the truth.  And you know why this is happening?  So that when Obama wins the election, the conservatives can claim, "Yeah, but only because ACORN and other Obama-sympathetic groups cheated."

Let's get something clear.  When volunteers employed by ACORN (ACORN itself is not doing this) register fictional people with fictional names like "Wild Turkey" and fictional social security numbers to match, this is not voter fraud unless (a) the phony registration goes unnoticed (and as evidenced by the news, they are not going unnoticed) AND (b) the fictional registered voter shows up to vote.

This is, more appropriately, "registration fraud".  And it is illegal and should be condemned and blah blah blah.  But it will have no effect on the outcome of the election, and talking about it like it will is simply irresponsible