And while we run down ACORN take a look at the voter suppression story in plain sight....

[unusualmusic_lj_archive]

John McCain’s Voter Suppression Committee

Nearly a quarter of John McCain’s “Clean Election and Voter Fraud Committee,” chaired by Warren Rudman and John Danforth, have been involved in GOP voter suppression efforts or unfounded partisan claims of voter fraud. Of the 21 members of the committee, five have been engaging in these shady efforts.

t’s no surprise that Republicans engage in voter fraud. Watch what happened last week when “Clean Election and Voter Fraud Committee,” member Tom Davis tells an audience of reporters at the National Press Club last week that Republicans don’t suppress votes. The reaction? They laughed! A lot!

In addition to Davis, who has a history of openly discussing subtle voter suppression techniques, the committee includes

* Cameron Quinn, who was a director of the Republican voter suppression front group, the American Center for Voting Rights.
* California Secretary of State Bill Jones, who has long fought for ways to make it more difficult for people to vote.
* Susan Molinari who cried wolf about voter fraud in 2004 and 2006, only to find her allegations proven false.
* Larry D. Thompson who hired Bradley Schlozman to work in the Justice Department where he approved Tom Delay’s redistricting plan, GA’s modern “Jim Crow Law” and pursued politicized indictments against ACORN in MO.

...

Cameron Quinn
Cameron Quinn, was a director of the American Center for Voting Rights that according to McClatchy, deployed resources “deployed in battleground states to press for restrictive ID laws and oversee balloting.”
In addition Slate reported,

ACVR's method of argument followed a familiar line, first set out by Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund in his book, Stealing Elections. First, ACVR argued extensively by anecdote, pointing to instances of illegal conduct, such as someone, somewhere registering Mary Poppins to vote. Anecdote would then be coupled with statistics showing problems with voter rolls not being purged to remove voters who had died or moved, leaving open the potential for fraudulent voting at the polls. Finally, the group would claim that the amount of such voter fraud is hard to quantify, because it is after all illegal conduct, hidden from the public. Given this great potential for mischief, and without evidence of actual mischief, allegedly reasonable initiatives such as purging voter rolls and requiring ID seemed the natural solution.

Sound familiar? The article also point out:

cachet would be used to support the passage of onerous voter-identification laws that depress turnout among the poor, minorities, and the elderly—groups more likely to vote Democratic. Where the Bush administration may have failed to nail illegal voters, the effort to suppress minority voting has borne more fruit, as more states pass these laws, and courts begin to uphold them in the name of beating back waves of largely imaginary voter fraud.” The article notes: “the group would claim that the amount of such voter fraud is hard to quantify, because it is after all illegal conduct, hidden from the public. Given this great potential for mischief, and without evidence of actual mischief, allegedly reasonable initiatives such as purging voter rolls and requiring ID seemed the natural solution.

MORe

Via: Crooks and Liars:

Why the media can't see the trees for the ACORNS

I don't think there is a journalist covering the ACORN matter who doesn't know with a great deal of certainty that there is a substantial difference between fictionalized voter registration forms and real voter suppression and election fraud. The former are easily identified and never result in fraudulent voting. No one covering these stories believes that someone is going to show up at the polls this year and say, "My name is Mickey Mouse."

A few bad-apple, low-paid canvassers who take jobs registering voters will turn in fraudulent forms. In this case (as in most) it appears the bad registration forms were identified by ACORN and turned over to authorities in accordance with the law.

The media attention granted the right-wing attacks on ACORN begs the question: why does it seem to be a greater sin to be suspected of voter registration mistakes than to publicly engage in voter suppression efforts? MORE

Comments

[shiffer.livejournal.com]

Nearly a quarter of John McCain’s “Clean Election and Voter Fraud Committee,” chaired by Warren Rudman and John Danforth, have been involved in GOP voter suppression efforts or unfounded partisan claims of voter fraud.

I read that as the committee in charge of perpetrating voter fraud. It's not surprising that they'd pick members with experience.