Thread: ACORN Aims to Tip N.J. Election in Corzine's Favor

ACORN Aims to Tip New Jersey Election in Corzine's Favor

Monday, November 2, 2009 6:36 PM

By: David A. Patten


Fearing a potentially devastating Democratic loss, the highly controversial Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) group and its affiliated organizations are gearing up to tip the scales and re-elect embattled incumbent in the hard-fought New Jersey gubernatorial race, sources tell Newsmax.

"Acorn is heavily involved in Gov. Jon Corzine's get-out-the-vote operation, but is maintaining a low profile at the insistence of the Corzine campaign," Matthew Vadum, senior editor of the conservative Capitol Research Center think tank, tells Newsmax. "If Corzine manages to win reelection, he doesn't want the victory tainted by his close association with Acorn."

Wall Street Journal columnist and author John Fund wrote Tuesday that "Plenty of reasons exist for suspecting absentee fraud may play a significant role in tomorrow's Garden State contests."

According to Fund, Acorn-linked groups from neighboring Pennsylvania and New York "appear to have moved into the state."

Fund also reports that the state's Democratic Party is pressuring county clerks around the Garden State to downplay signature checks on absentee ballots. Without such checking, it is very difficult to detect absentee vote fraud.

Left bruised and battered by the recent undercover videos depicting workers at various Acorn offices giving advice on tax evasion to a reputed child-prostitution ring, Acorn remains a potent political force in many regions. It has been the focus of vote-registration fraud investigations in more than a dozen states.

A search of the Acorn.org Web site shows that the organization has a heavy presence in New Jersey. It maintains offices in Jersey City, Trenton, Paterson, and Newark.

The group could play an important role in voter turnout, which many pundits predict will determine whether Corzine or his Republican challenger, Chris Christie, emerges victorious.

The latest Quinnipiac poll shows Christie clinging to a narrow 42 percent to 40 percent lead over Corzine, with independent Christopher Daggett garnering 12 percent. Among those Daggett voters who say they may change their minds, Christie is preferred 39 percent to 29 percent.

While those trends would appear to favor Christie, Republicans haven't forgotten the prolonged Minnesota recount battle that ended with Democrat Al Franken being awarded the victory over GOP incumbent Sen. Norm Coleman. The bitter lesson drawn by many Republicans: Once officials in a heavily Democratic state declare a race close enough for a recount, all bets are off.

"If there is a recount," Fund writes, "you can bet disputes about absentee ballots will loom large. Moreover, if serious allegations of fraud emerge, you can also expect less-than-vigorous investigation by the Obama Justice Department -- which showed just how seriously it takes such allegations when it walked away from an open-and-shut voter intimidation case against the New Black Panther Party in Philadelphia earlier this year."

Absentee ballots become critical in every recount, and New Jersey officials are reporting an marked increase in requests for absentee ballots.

"There has been a reported surge in absentee balloting, which might be suspicious but isn't necessarily proof of anything," Vadum tells Newsmax.

Fund reports that state officials received "a flood" of over 180,000 requests for absentee ballots.

"On some 3,000 forms the signature doesn't match the one on file with county clerks," Fund adds. "Yet citing concerns that voters would be disenfranchised, Democratic Party lawyer Paul Josephson wrote New Jersey's secretary of state asking her 'to instruct County Clerks not to deny applications on the basis of signature comparison alone.'"

Fund reports voter-fraud allegations have marred several New Jersey elections in recent years.

In September, New Jersey Attorney General Anne Milgram announced the indictments of Atlantic City Councilman Marty Small and 13 campaign workers, charging they solicited absentee ballots on behalf of individuals not qualified to receive them, then opened the sealed ballots, and destroyed any that were not cast for Small.

In the current election, Fund reports that supporters of Roberto Feliz, an Independent candidate for Mayor of Camden, are sounding alarms over suspicious ballot activity. One Feliz backer says that absentee ballots -- which are thought to be more vulnerable to voter fraud – have increased by a factor of 15 compared to prior elections.

"In the 2005, when the city's voters voted for both governor and mayor on the same day, only 200 absentee ballots were cast," Fund writes. "This year, some 3,700 have already been received."

Fund adds that the Feliz campaign has received complaints from voters regarding absentee irregularities.

Fund writes: "I spoke with Uremia Rojas who reports that 'a man with a clipboard knocked on my door and had me sign something so I could vote by mail. I was skeptical but signed and got a ballot. I never really wanted one.'"

According to Fund, SEIU Local 32BJ, which is headquartered in Philadelphia but maintains an office in Newark, is "heavily involved" in the New Jersey gubernatorial election. The local's political director, Peter Colavito, is a former political chief for Acorn, Fund says.

He also reports New York's Working Families Party has also "moved into" New Jersey.

The Working Families Party has very close ties to Acorn, an organization notorious for its labyrinthine network of affiliates.

In October, The New York Times reported that prior to becoming White House political director, Patrick Gaspard "worked with Acorn in New York to set up the Working Families political party and sat on the party's board," along with Acorn CEO Bertha Lewis.

Republican fears are fanned by the fact that, despite New Jersey's recent run-ins with vote-fraud allegations, Gov. Corzine in June signed a new "Vote by Mail" law that some believe may make it harder to detect fraudulent ballots.

That law allows voters to opt to automatically receive mail-in ballots for all state elections, which eliminates the need to ever show up at a polling place and submit identification.

"There are also new opportunities for voting shenanigans in New Jersey," Vadum says. "Voting by mail is even easier now, thanks to the law Corzine signed."

There was no immediate response from the Corzine campaign or Acorn Monday afternoon to a Newsmax request for comment regarding Acorn's reported involvement in the election.

Source: Newsmax

http://www.newsmax.com/headlines/corzin ... 80632.html

Corzine wont win unless ACORN pulls some dirty work.

If Corzine wins by the number of absentee ballots, I would challenge them..if I were Christie.

Acorn stole the Minnesota senator election and I fully expect them to steal this election.