RNC accuses ACORN of voter fraud in Milwaukee

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A Republican National Committee lawyer says one of the groups that recruited new voters in Milwaukee engaged in “systematic fraud.”

The Associated Press said ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, hired at least seven convicted felons to register new voters.

Their crimes included robbery and possessing cocaine.

Earlier this year, Milwaukee officials discovered 49 cases in which employees of ACORN and the Community Voters’ Project allegedly submitted false voter registrations.

They were dropped from the voter rolls, and a 21-year-old worker with the Voters’ Project was the first to be charged criminally this week.

In April, the state Government Accountability Board said convicted felons cannot take voter registrations.

Milwaukee officials said they never got the message. They thought the ban only applied to those on probation and parole.

The city also said it would change its policies to comply with the state order.

Sean Cairncross, chief lawyer for the Republican National Committee, said Milwaukee is not the only place where ACORN was investigated.

But State Democratic Party chairman Joe Wineke said Republicans are “fabricating stories about widespread voter fraud in attempts to scare voters.”

He also accused the GOP of trying to divert people’s attention from the Wall Street crisis, which Wineke called “the final verdict on the disastrous Bush-McCain economic policies.”

Tags: wisconsin news, acorn, voter, fraud