ACORN aftermath

The Nevada Supreme Court has upheld a state law that prohibits putting a bounty on voter registrations. The case dates back to the 2008 presidential election.

Under Nevada Revised Statute 293.805, it is a felony “to provide compensation for registering voters that is based upon: (a) The total number of voters a person registers; or (b) The total number of voters a person registers in a particular political party.”

In Las Vegas in 2008, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, Inc. (ACORN) created a voter registration program that initially paid its workers a flat wage. ACORN official Amy Busefink later approved a recommendation by organizer Christopher Edwards that the group start paying workers an additional $5 for every 21 or more voter registration applications turned in. Busefink and Edwards were apparently unaware of the ban in state law.

The bounty led to allegedly fraudulent voter registrations being turned in, though none of the workers has been convicted on that charge. But Busefink was convicted of conspiracy on an Alford plea (a guilty plea in which a defendant maintains innocence but concedes that the prosecutor has evidence that could lead to a conviction) and sentenced to 100 hours of community service and probation. Edwards pleaded guilty to a lesser, gross misdemeanor charge and drew probation.

Busefink appealed on first amendment and vagueness grounds. The court ruled that NRS 293.805 is not vague and serves a state interest—the integrity of elections—without disrupting voter registration programs, and that the encumbrance imposed on the first amendment by the law is “minimal.”

“Nevada’s interest in protecting the integrity of its election process and preventing voter registration fraud, when viewed in relation to this minimal burden, is sufficiently weighty to justify NRS 293.805’s restrictions,” wrote Justice Mark Gibbons.