ACORN case closed
A case of an anti-poverty organization that was accused of massive voter fraud in Nevada in the 2008 election came to a quiet end last week.
A month before the election between Barack Obama and John McCain, the Las Vegas chapter of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) was accused of paying bounties for helping low-income residents to register to vote. Unlike some states, paying for registration assistance is illegal, though the state does allow bounties for voter signatures on initiative and referendum petitions.
The charges came at a time when Republicans in the presidential campaign were trying to demonize ACORN groups around the nation, and both Republicans and Democrats in Nevada joined in denunciation of the local ACORN chapter.
Last week in Las Vegas, ACORN pleaded guilty to one felony count for compensating voter registration. The group faces up to a $5,000 fine. But ACORN was essentially wiped out of existence by the national GOP onslaught in 2008 and by a loss of public funding and is dormant. It is in bankruptcy proceedings. ACORN’s New York attorney was quoted saying that he authorized the guilty plea to settle the case even though he believes the Nevada statute is vulnerable to constitutional challenge. But the group is in no financial condition to fight the law.
Christopher Edwards, who ran the Nevada voter program, is serving three years probation after earlier pleading guilty to two gross misdemeanors.