Indiana Voter Registration Fraud Gets Renewed Scrutiny

Bob Roberts, WBBM NewsRadio 780 Reporting

   Indiana's Secretary of State is taking a closer look at several thousand voter registrations filed by the activist group ACORN amid accusations that hundreds of the forms are bogus.

   At issue are at least 2,000 and as many as 5,100 applications submitted by ACORN registrars Monday in Lake County.

   It's drawing all the more attention because most pundits and pollsters currently rate Indiana as a "toss-up" state in next month's presidential election.

   Indiana Secretary of State Todd Rokita said the registration forms that will be checked include hundreds that appear to be signed by one person. Some are said to be dead. One registration is in the name of "Jimmy Johns," a restaurant chain.

   "We're talking about fraudulent application for registration and procurement of registration materials, fraudulent subscription of another person's name to an affidavit of registration and we may be looking at false and fictitious or fraudulent registration application themselves," he said.

   Rokita said he was turning over what his office has uncovered to Indiana Attorney General Steve Carter and Lake County Prosecutor Bernard Carter for further investigation and prosecution.

   Indiana is not the first state in which ACORN registrars have been accused of fraud. Several investigations have been launched, dating back to 2004.

   On Tuesday, Nevada authorities raided an ACORN office in Las Vegas, in which workers were accused of registering voters using the names of Dallas Cowboys football players.

   CNN reported that a subsidiary of ACORN was paid $800,000 by the Obama campaign to register voters during the 2008 primary season, but an Obama campaign spokesman told CNN that it is committed to "protecting the integrity of the voting process" and has not worked with ACORN in the general election.

   WBBM has attempted to contact the Gary ACORN office, but voice mail messages have not been returned. An attorney for the group told CNN that ACORN has fired workers in Gary in the past but called the investigative focus on ACORN an attempt to disenfranchise voters.

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