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Sen. Cornyn Statement On Reports Of FBI Investigation Of ACORN
Thursday, October 16, 2008
WASHINGTON—U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, issued the following statement regarding a report by the Associated Press this afternoon confirming that the FBI has initiated an investigation into “whether the community group ACORN helped to foster voter registration fraud around the nation before the presidential election.” Earlier this week, Senator Cornyn sent a letter to U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey requesting that the Department of Justice immediately launch a nationwide criminal probe into ACORN’s voter registration activities and investigate ACORN as a “criminal enterprise.”
“Any violation of our federal election laws is a serious matter, but particularly if it’s taking place in a coordinated and organized manner,” Sen. Cornyn said today. “The reports surrounding ACORN’s activities appear to be so widespread that it’s difficult to believe they are isolated incidents by rogue employees. Clearly, this situation warrants a thorough investigation and I welcome today’s news. I hope that the Justice Department and the FBI will devote the necessary resources to protect the integrity of our federal election system.”
The full text of Senator Cornyn’s letter to the Attorney General is below. In addition, a .pdf copy of the letter is available here: http://cornyn.senate.gov/doc_archive/Mukasey-ACORN-letter.pdf
The Honorable Michael B. Mukasey
Attorney General
U.S. Department of Justice
950 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20530-0001
Dear General Mukasey:
I am increasingly concerned by reports of widespread election fraud by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (“ACORN”), which seem to emerge on a daily basis.
Specifically, I call your attention to state and local investigations into potentially hundreds of thousands of fraudulent voter registration applications filed by ACORN in North Carolina, Ohio, Nevada, Michigan, Florida, New Mexico, Missouri, Pennsylvania, Washington, Connecticut, Wisconsin, and my home state of Texas. In Harris County, Texas, which includes the City of Houston, election officials either rejected or discovered serious deficiencies with nearly 40 percent of the 27,000 registration cards filed by ACORN from January through July of this year.
Most recently, election officials in Lake County, Indiana, found more than 2,100 fraudulent voter registration applications that were filed at the deadline by ACORN. According to a CNN report, at least one of ACORN’s applications in Lake County attempted to register a dead man. In addition, The St. Petersburg Times (FL) reported today that Mickey Mouse tried to register to vote in Florida this summer. Although Orange County elections officials rejected his application, it is notable that Mickey Mouse’s application had an ACORN stamp on it. In addition, The [Raleigh, NC] News & Observer also reported today that ACORN conducted a voter drive that registered nearly 28,000 people in North Carolina. But according to local election officials some of the forms it filed had information that may have been copied from phone books.
Election fraud imposes a real cost on our system, beyond the obvious consequence of subverting a free and fair election. Fraudulent voter registration on this scale seriously strains state and local elections resources and distracts elections officials from preparing to conduct an orderly election. Of course, ACORN’s nationwide voter registration fraud provides an opportunity for individuals to vote who should not, or for some to vote more than once.
Given these allegations, as well as the well-documented fraud convictions in recent years of ACORN employees, I urge you to launch a nationwide criminal probe into ACORN’s voter registration activities. As you know, federal law prohibits an individual from (1) providing fraudulent voter registration information; (2) conspiring to encourage false registration or illegal voting; and (3) paying or offering to pay another individual for registering or voting. It is also a crime to knowingly procure or submit false, fictitious, or fraudulent voter registration applications. Finally, I must add that, because the violations of federal voting laws by ACORN employees appear to be so widespread, ACORN and its affiliates should be investigated as a criminal enterprise.
Thank you for your prompt attention to this matter.
Sincerely,
JOHN CORNYN
United States Senator
Sen. Cornyn serves on the Armed Services, Judiciary and Budget Committees. In addition, he is Vice Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Ethics. He serves as the top Republican on the Judiciary Committee’s Immigration, Border Security and Refugees subcommittee and the Armed Services Committee’s Airland subcommittee. He served previously as Texas Attorney General, Texas Supreme Court Justice, and Bexar County District Judge.
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