WA: ACORN, Reform group turned in 2,000 suspicious voter registrations

Reform group turned in 2,000 suspicious voter registrations
County may make criminal inquiry
By RACHEL LA CORTE (AP)
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/304877_acorn23.html

OLYMPIA -- King County elections officials said Thursday that nearly 2,000 potentially fraudulent voter registration cards were submitted before the November election by a local branch of a group that's come under fire across the country.

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now -- or ACORN -- submitted the 1,829 cards by mail, but they arrived after the Oct. 7 deadline ..

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"Our staff quickly noticed where there were hundreds of forms where the signatures were similar," she said. "It appears they were fraudulently completed by a few individuals."

.... the King County Prosecutor's Office, which advised them to do a random sample of the registrations.

Egan said an elections employee spent the month of December calling 400 phone numbers that were provided on the cards. Of the 400 phone numbers, all but two were not good numbers, and those two people denied filling out voter registration cards.

Kevin Whelan, spokesman for the New Orleans-based group, said it was eager to work with elections officials.

"If there was anyone working for us who turned in cards that were fake, we want to see them prosecuted," he said. ....

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Who knows what could happen.