State of ACORN Investigations

ACORN workers in at least nine states have been charged with various crimes related to voter fraud.

At least 50 people have been arrested in connection with ACORN-related voter fraud.  Plus four arrest warrants outstanding in Florida.

At least 30 of these cases ended with guilty pleas.

State	Date	Case Description	Charges	Outcome
Colorado	10/27/04	Denver prosecutors charged three ACORN workers with falsely filling out multiple voter forms to boost their pay in a paid registration drive. [1]	Two were charged with six counts of procuring false registrations, a misdemeanor with a maximum punishment of up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine. [2] One was charged with five counts of perjury. [3]	Jan. 2005: Two pleaded guilty and was sentenced to a year of probation and 150 hours of community service. Nov. 2004: Another pleaded guilty to a charge of perjury and was sentenced to 32 hours of community service. Monique Mora was slated to go to trial in March 2005. Status unknown [4]
Colorado	11/9/2004	ACORN worker Kym Michelle Cason was charged with procuring false registrations. [5]	15 counts of felony forgery and five counts of misdemeanor [6]	8/29/05: Charged with an added count of court perjury; pleaded guilty to count 16 (procuring false registration) and count 21 (court perjury). 11/7/05: Sentenced to 2 years probation for each count to be served concurrently.  The unprosecuted charges were dismissed. [7]
Florida	9/9/09	Seven people were taken into custody in Florida on Sept. 9 as arrest warrants were issued for 11 workers hired by the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now — or ACORN — on charges of voter registration fraud. [8] (Miami-Dade Co.)	Those arrested are charged with several counts of false swearing in connection with voting or elections and submission of false voter registration information, both third-degree felonies.[9]	Sept. 9, 2009: Arrest warrants issued, seven in custody and four still being sought.
Michigan	10/08	Michigan Attorney General filed felony forgery charges against a former ACORN employee Antonio Johnson after six falsified voter registration applications were submitted to the city of Jackson in late May and early June 2008. [10]	6 forgery counts, each carrying up to a 14-year prison term. [11]	Dec. 2008: Johnson pleaded guilty to 3 counts of fraudulent voter registration in Jackson County Circuit Court. In Jan. 2009 he was sentenced to 6 months of jail and 2 years probation. [12]
Minnesota	9/04	Former ACORN worker Joshua Reed was charged with a felony for failing to turn in at least 250 complete voter registration cards he collected as part of a new voter drive.[13]	Failure to submit voter registration cards, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. [14]	Dec. 2004: Pleaded guilty to forgery and failing to submit the cards to the proper authorities. [15]
Missouri	12/31/2008	Deidra Humphrey, an ACORN voter registration recruiter, was accused of submitting forged and false voter registration cards for the November general election, including forging cards for nursing home residents. [16]	Two felony counts of voter registration fraud [17]	3/24/09: Pleaded guilty to a federal mail fraud charge 6/11/09: Sentenced to three years’ probation [18]
Missouri	11/2/2006	Four people who worked for an ACORN signing up new voters were indicted on charges of submitting false voter registrations to the Kansas City election board. [19]	Two felony counts each of “knowingly and willingly” filing false information [20]	Kwaim A. Stenson – pleaded guilty; sentenced to four months and five days Brian Gardner – pleaded guilty; sentenced to probation Dale D. Franklin – pleaded guilty; sentenced to probation [21] Charges against Stephanie Davis were dropped  [22]
Missouri	1/5/07	Carmen R. Davis was indicted on charges of charges of election fraud and identity theft [23]	Four-count indictment on election fraud and identity theft charges [24]	Pleaded guilty in May 2007 to filing false paperwork; sentenced to 120 days in a halfway house [25]

Missouri	12/31/07	Eight ACORN workers in St. Louis city and county submitted false registration cards prior to the 2006 election, according to a federal indictment. [26]	Multiple counts of election fraud for submitting false voter registration applications to the St. Louis City and St. Louis County Board of Election Commissions falsely stating addresses, names and other information of the voters being registered, and which contained forged signatures of the purported applicants, in violation of Title 42, United States Code, Sections 1973i(c) and 1973 gg-10, election fraud [27]	All eight pleaded guilty in April 2008. [28]
Nevada	5/4/2009	A voter registration drive in 2008 illegally required canvassers to meet quotas to keep their jobs and resulted in thousands of “garbage” registrations gumming up Clark County voter rolls, officials said. The complaint names ACORN; Chris Edwards, the group’s former Las Vegas field director; and Amy Busefink, who was regional director for voter registration. [29]	26 counts of Compensation for Registration of Voters, a Category E felony in violation of NRS 293.805 and 13 counts of Principle to the Crime of Compensation for Registration of Voters, also a Category E felony, in violation of NRS 293.805 and NRS 195.020. [30]	Hearing scheduled for Sept. 29, 2009 [31]
Ohio	5/8/07	Claudel Gilbert of Reynoldsburg was indicted for voting twice in the November 2006 election. He registered in two counties by ACORN. [32]	Illegal voting and false registration, both felonies [33]	Oct. 2007: Pleaded guilty to voting in Franklin County, where he did not live, and to voting twice, both felonies under Ohio law. Sentenced to probation for one year and fined $500 but suspended a six-month prison sentence. [34]
Ohio	9/7/04	ACORN worker Kevin Eugene Dooley was indicted on charges he forged a registration form. [35]	Two counts: submitting a false election registration form and submitting a false signature. Both are felonies, punishable by up to a year in prison and a $2,500 fine. [36]	12/1/04: Pleaded guilty to the charge of false election registration and was given a suspended sentence with two years probation. [37]

Ohio	6/5/09	A man who cast a ballot using a fake address in the 2008 presidential election was indicted on charges of tampering with records, false registration and illegal voting. The indictment of Darnell Nash was the first by the Cuyahoga County prosecutor’s office from a seven-month investigation of ACORN’s voter registration practices. [38]	Ten counts of record tampering, eight counts of false registration and one count of illegal voting. [39]	Aug. 7, 2009: Nash pleaded guilty to 3 counts including false registration and improper handling of forms.  Sentenced to 6 months on each count, concurrent. [40]
Pennsylvania	10/08	Luis Torres-Serrano was charged with falsifying 19 registration applications as a temporary worker for ACORN. [41]	19 counts each of perjury, false swearing, forgery and identity theft [42]	4/24/09: Pleaded guilty to all charges and was given state intermediate punishment — a 2-year program that begins in prison and moves to halfway houses — plus 5 years probation [43]
Pennsylvania	5/7/09	The Allegheny County District Attorney charged seven people with forgery and other violations, saying they worked with the group ACORN to deliver forged registrations during the 2008 election. [44]	Combined 51 counts of forgery and other violations. The forgery counts are third degree felonies [45]	Pending as of July 2009
Pennsylvania	March 2007	Berks County detectives obtained a warrant for the arrest of Richard W. Brown and Wendy Godfrey. They were accused of accused of creating 29 phony voter registration forms. [46]	Conspiracy, forgery, tampering with records and identity theft [47]	2/08: Brown pleaded guilty to identity theft and tampering with records and was sentenced to 146 days to 23 months in the county prison. 3/08: Godfrey pleaded guilty to tampering with public records and was sentenced to 23 days to one year in county prison. [48]
Pennsylvania	10/22/2008	Jemar Barksdale was charged with forgery for allegedly altering 18 voter registration applications during his employment with ACORN. [49]	108 counts, including forgery, theft and records tampering. [50]	Nov. 2008: Barksdale pleaded guilty to forgery, theft and other charges and was sentenced to six to 23 months of home and pay ACORN $574 restitution. [51]

Washington

5/27/07

Prosecutors filed felony charges against seven people in what one official described as the worst case of voter registration fraud in state history. The seven workers submitted about 1,800 false registration cards in Fall 2006 on behalf of ACORN [52]

Two were charged with eight counts each of providing false information on a voter registration; two were charged with two counts each; and two were charged with one count each. One was charged with one count of providing false information on a voter registration and one count of making a false statement to a public official. [53]

Oct. 2007: Ryan Olson pleaded guilty to two counts of providing false information on a voter-registration application; sentenced to 30 days in jail or in electronic home detention.  Tina Johnson and Jayson Woods pleaded guilty to 8 counts each of registration fraud; 120 days of jail recommended for each. [54] Clifton Mitchell served more than 90 days in jail after pleading guilty to two counts of providing false information on a voter registration. [55] Status of other three defendants: unknown

---

[1] “PROSECUTORS CHARGE ANOTHER MAN IN REGISTRATION FRAUD,” Rocky Mountain News, 2 November 2004

[2] “2 CHARGED IN VOTER FRAUD ; DENVER PAIR ACCUSED OF FALSELY FILLING OUT FORMS TO BOOST PAY,” Rocky Mountain News, 28 October 2004

[3] “PROSECUTORS CHARGE ANOTHER MAN IN REGISTRATION FRAUD,” Rocky Mountain News, 2 November 2004

[4] “BRIEFING,” Rocky Mountain News, 4 January 2005

[5] “BRIEFING,”  Rocky Mountain News, 10 November 2004

[6] Ibid.

[7] Adams County Justice Department

[8] “11 accused of faking voter registration cards in Miami-Dade,” Miami Herald, 9 September 2009

[9] Ibid.

[10] “Michigan clerks deal with duplicate voter registrations but report few cases of fraud,”

Associated Press, 14 October 2008

[11] Michigan Attorney General Press Release – http://www.michigan.gov/ag/0,1607,7-164-34739_34811-201714–,00.html

[12] Phone call with Michigan A.G. media relations 517-373-8060.

[13] “Man with stash of filled-out voter cards in trunk charged,”AP, 15 October 2004

[14] Ibid.

[15] “Voter card stash brings guilty plea,” Star Tribune, 7 December 2004

[16] ” Ex-ACORN worker indicted in voter fraud case,” St. Louis Post-Dispatch, January 5, 2009

[17] Ibid.

[18] FBI St. Louis Field Office

[19] “4 voter registration recruiters indicted on fraud charges,” AP, 11/2/06

[20] Ibid.

[21] “Voter fraud defendant sentenced,” The Kansas City Star, 5 September 2007

[22] “Charges dropped in voter fraud case,” The Kansas City Star, 21 November 2006

[23] “Voter registration recruiter faces fraud indictment,” AP, 1/5/07

[24] Ibid.

[25] “Voter fraud defendant sentenced,” The Kansas City Star, 5 September 2007

[26] “EIGHT ACORN VOTER REGISTRATION WORKERS INDICTED ON FEDERAL ELECTION FRAUD CHARGES,” United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District Of Missouri, 12/31/07

[27] Ibid.

[28] “EIGHT ACORN VOTER REGISTRATION WORKERS PLEAD GUILTY TO FEDERAL ELECTION FRAUD CHARGES,” United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District Of Missouri, 2 April 2008

The following information was released by the United States Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District Of Missouri

[29] “ACORN voter registration drive nets charges,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, 5/4/09

[30] Nevada Secretary of State, http://sos.state.nv.us/information/news/press/2009/20090504.asp

[31] “ACORN hearing scheduled on Sept. 29,” The Las Vegas Review-Journal, 16 July 2009

The Las Vegas Review-Journal

[32] “Man voted in 2 counties in 1 election,” The Columbus Dispatch, 9 May 2007

[33] Ibid.

[34] “Man gets fine, probation for voting twice in ‘06 election,” Columbus Dispatch, 10/6/07

[35]“FRANKLIN COUNTY GRAND JURY; WORKER ACCUSED OF FALSIFYING VOTER FORM,” The Columbus Dispatch, 8 September 2004

[36] Ibid.

[37] Franklin County, OH, court docket: http://fcdcfcjs.co.franklin.oh.us/CaseInformationOnline/

[38] “Man indicted in illegal voting investigation,” Plain Dealer,  6 June 2009

[39] Cuyahoga County Court Docket for State of Ohio vs. Nash, case no. CR-09-524693-A – http://cpdocket.cp.cuyahogacounty.us/

[40] Ibid.

[41] “GOP calls for probe A man caught in York is accused of falsifying registration applications,” York Daily Record, 14 October 2008

[42] Ibid.

[43] Dauphin County District Attorney’s office

[44] “7 ACORN WORKERS CHARGED WITH FORGERY,” Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 8 May 2009

[45] Ibid.

[46] “Man wanted in voter case jailed,” Reading Eagle, 29 September 2007)

[47] Ibid.

[48] “Bogus-forms scheme leads to jail term,” Reading Eagle, 6 March 2008

[49] “Ex-ACORN worker charged with forging 18 voter registration forms in suburban Philadelphia,” AP,

22 October 2008

[50] Ibid.

[51] “Ex-ACORN worker gets house arrest in Philly-area voter fraud case; must also repay ACORN,” AP, 25 November 2008

[52] “Seven charged in vote-fraud scheme,” Seattle Times, 27 July 2007

[53] Ibid.

[54] “Three plead guilty in fake voter scheme; Acorn workers; One is already sentenced to 30 days,” Seattle Times, 30 October 2007

[55] “Local ACORN cleans up act after scandal,” Seattle Times, 29 October 2008