ACORN Fights Registration Fraud – But Only in Washington State

Published October 15, 2008 4:07pm ET



A primary defense of ACORN against allegations of election fraud is that ACORN’s leaders are unable to stop its own workers from submitting fraudulent applications. But ACORN entered into a consent decree in Washington state in 2006 which requires the organization to adhere to a set of guidelines to protect them from their workers. It requires ACORN:

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  • to comply with all Washingon state laws;
  • to date registration forms and submit them with a week;
  • to identify the ACORN employee who received every application;
  • to put a salaried employee in charge of every registration operation;
  • to have a quality control officer oversee the work;
  • to have ACORN’s national leaders review quality control forms from Washington state weekly;
  • to have state approval for a training video that all employees must see;
  • to share all registration drive documents with prosecutors before a drive begins;
  • to segregate, document, and disclose all suspect registrations;
  • to make itself liable for criminal prosecution for vioaltions; and,
  • to reimburse King County for the cost of the county’s investigation.

These are simply the highlights. You can review the form for yourself here. If ACORN is able to adhere to these requirements in Washington state, why can’t it do the same in every jurisdiction where it operates?