Pierce County plans to purge 230 names from voter rolls this week as it completes an investigation of what might be the worst voter-registration fraud in Washington history.
None of the apparently fraudulent voters ever cast a ballot. And deputy prosecuting attorney Allen Rose said the arrest and prosecution of those responsible shows that state and county safeguards to prevent voter fraud work.
“These people were caught and prosecuted because you can’t defraud the system,” Rose said.
The investigation centers on voter registrations submitted by employees of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now. The Louisiana-based ACORN is a national advocacy group for low-income people.
In fall 2006 ACORN workers submitted more than 1,800 registration forms in King County and about 1,400 in Pierce County.
Pierce County Auditor Pat McCarthy said her employees became suspicious because of the large number of registrations for voters who supposedly lived at the Tacoma Rescue Mission.
Some forms lacked information, like an address or a signature, and were not entered into the registration system by county workers. Others lacked a driver’s license number or a Social Security number and were entered but flagged for further scrutiny.
Prosecutors in King County charged seven ACORN employees with submitting false information on voter-registration cards. Five of the seven have since pleaded guilty. Two of the five ACORN employees admitted falsifying registrations in Pierce County.
When the charges were filed last July, Secretary of State Sam Reed called it “the worst case of voter-registration fraud in the history of Washington.”
Perhaps, but prosecutors said the ACORN workers weren’t scheming to permit illegal voting. They were trying to get paid for work they didn’t do.
Rose said the workers, paid $8 an hour by ACORN, were trying to meet quotas imposed by the advocacy group. When they couldn’t get enough legitimate registrations, they combed phone books for names or made them up, Rose said.
In a few cases, the workers seemingly used the names of movie or sports stars. Pierce County received registrations for “Veronica Mars,” a character in the television series of the same name, and “Pat Tillman,” an NFL player turned Army Ranger who died in Afghanistan in 2004.
Last year the King County Canvassing Board removed 1,762 fraudulent registrations from the county’s voter list.
On Wednesday, Rose will ask the Pierce County Canvassing Board to purge 230 registrations submitted by ACORN workers. All the “voters” lived at the Tacoma Rescue Mission, according to the forms.
The county sent two letters to each of them in an attempt to verify registrations. All were returned undeliverable.
It’s possible, but not likely, that legitimate voters could attend the hearing to contest the challenge to their registration.
“I don’t think anybody’s going to be there,” Rose said.
McCarthy emphasized that the intent of the ACORN employees was to “make a buck,” not to inflate the voter rolls. And she said the office’s vetting process worked. With the purging of seemingly fraudulent registrations, “we’ll be able to put this issue to bed,” McCarthy said.
David Wickert: 253-274-7341
The Pierce County Canvassing Board will meet at 1 p.m. Wednesday at the Pierce County Election Center, 2501 S. 35th St., Suite C, Tacoma.
The board will consider purging 230 voter registrations that county prosecutors believe to be fraudulent. Go to our Web site for a list of the voters.
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