By: Las Vegas Now Staff
Allegations of voter registration fraud led state investigators to search the local office of a nationwide registration program. State agents served a search warrant on the group ACORN, the Association for Community Reform Now because it obtained evidence of phony registrations.
Last week, Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller warned that his office would come down hard on anyone engaged in any hanky panky in voter registration.
Tuesday morning, he made good on that vow.
Read the Affidavit for Search Warrant
State investigators used a search warrant to enter the office of ACORN in Commercial Center, which is a nationwide program designed to empower the poor and get them involved in the political process.
Ironically, Tuesday was when ACORN had scheduled a potluck meal to reward workers for signing up some 90,000 new voters here in recent months.
But an unknown number of those new registrations are bogus according to election officals.
Some of the registrars working for ACORN submitted the names of voters already registered or names that were essentially made up.
“Some of these forms that were submitted were the starting lineups for the Dallas Cowboys. So, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that some of the forms coming in are fraudulent,” said Nevada Secretary of State Ross Miller. “In many instances, you see the same individual registering over and over again, day after day. And some of them are just fraudulent.”
The exact number of phony registrations won't be determined until state agents have a chance to comb thru the documents and computer files seized, but Secretary of State Miller thinks it could be substantial.
His office was tipped to the problem by the Clark County Election Department, which tracked many of the problem paperwork back to ACORN.
