[JURIST] The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) [advocacy website] defended their voter registration practices [press release] Tuesday after a report surfaced Monday alleging that ACORN engages in fraudulent voter registration practices [JURIST report]. The AP report noted that 3,000 ACORN-submitted voter cards in Philadelphia were invalid due to missing or inaccurate information, and that ACORN was blamed for smaller incidents in Ohio and Colorado as well. On Tuesday, ACORN said:

ACORN does not commit voter fraud. We work hard to bring new people into the democratic process and work to maintain good quality control. We have even gone to court to overturn regulations that would prevent us from checking registration cards for errors. In the rare cases where an employee has done something wrong, ACORN has not only fired that person, but worked to have them prosecuted where appropriate.

The rare but real instances in which an employee has submitted duplicate or fraudulent voter registration cards are an example of workers attempting to defraud ACORN by passing off bad work as good work - a situation akin to a retail clerk stealing from his or her employer. There have been no findings of wrongdoing against ACORN itself and no credible accusations that the organization has engaged in voter registration fraud. This is true despite systematic efforts to distract or disparage us by organizations and individuals who oppose our goals of increasing political participation by low-income and minority voters.