ACORN Turns in Florida Workers on Voter Fraud Charges

The FBI and state authorities were making arrests Wednesday of workers hired to register voters by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN.

FOXNews: Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Arrest warrants have been issued in Miami for 11 people suspected of falsifying information on hundreds of voter registration cards -- including registering the name of late actor Paul Newman -- the Florida State Attorney's office told FOXNews.com.

The FBI and state authorities took six people into custody Wednesday as it issued 11 arrest warrants for voter registration fraud in Homestead, Fla., in June 2008.

"Names were filled out on the registration forms that were not actual voters," said Ed Griffith, a spokesperson for the State Attorney's office. Griffith said the names included people who were already registered voters, fictitious names, and the name of the late actor Paul Newman, who died in Sept. 2008.

Griffith said the workers being sought were hired to register voters by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, or ACORN. He said ACORN alerted the state attorney's office after it reviewed hundreds of fraudulent voter registration cards.

In a statement sent to FOXNews.com. on Wednesday, Florida ACORN board member Leroy Bell said, "we want to commend the State Attorney for taking decisive action. Today's action demonstrates the seriousness we brought to the task of not only expanding the electorate, but also of protecting the integrity of the voting process. "

"Over the last five years thousands of dedicated people have worked or volunteered with Florida ACORN and succeeded in helping hundreds of thousands of Florida citizens -- especially African-Americans, Latinos, low-income and young people -- to apply to become registered voters. Fortunately, our quality control managers and the systems we developed ensured their ability to spot the isolated wrongdoing by these 11 workers who tried to pass off phony forms instead of doing their work," he said.

Bell added that the government should do more to modernize the voter registration system, saying ACORN would "prefer that Florida and the United States adopt a more modern voter registration system where getting everyone on the rolls is the government's job and mission."

ACORN's activities were frequently questioned during the 2008 presidential election. The group, which claims to be a non-partisan grassroots community organization of low- and moderate-income people, came under fire in 2007 when Washington State filed felony charges against several paid ACORN employees and supervisors for more than 1,700 fraudulent voter registrations. In March 2008, an ACORN worker in Pennsylvania was sentenced for making 29 phony voter registration forms.