# What does the acronym ACORN stand for? **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 12, 2008, 9:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634 "2008-10-12T21:24:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 9
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/161 "2008-10-19T02:34:00Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > So you’re OK with fake registrations? Why? Fake attempted registrations are not OK, but they are part and parcel with dealing with jerks. Every group has jerks in it. Rich jerks and poor jerks and white jerks and black jerks and Republican jerks and Democratic jerks. I would guess, though I don’t know how to prove it, that boards of election get fraudulent registration cards by mail all the time. It seems like it would appeal to the same caliber of brain as finds prank calls funny. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/162 "2008-10-19T02:34:22Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > Ok, so how does “Mickey Mouse” get to register? IF the local government is doing their jobs, he doesn’t. I’m sure they double-checked the driver’s license number just to be sure. But it’s the local government who has the authority to toss out fraudulent registration forms, not ACORN. I believe the Mickey Mouse form was _submitted_ but not _registered._ Incidentally, in my lifetime I’ve met people named Jack Daniels, Charles (Chuck) Norris, and (seriously) Ronald McDonald. I’d bet, if they ever tried to register to vote by mail, they’d get flagged as suspicious, but would be quickly confirmed as real by their registrar’s office, as all their other information checks out. They’re real citizens, perfectly qualified to vote, and if an ACORN worker had the authority to toss their registration form, they probably would, and they would be dead wrong. ---
**Author:** ![wring](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@wring](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wring)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/163 "2008-10-19T02:36:08Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > People apply for loans they don’t get for legitimate reasons. What is the reason for fake voter registrations? well, just as a guess, assholes like you might fill out fake registrations to cast suspicions on ACORN like agencies, ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/164 "2008-10-19T02:36:09Z")
> [@Carol Stream](#): > > People apply for loans they don’t get for legitimate reasons. What is the reason for fake voter registrations? Like I just said, they’re produced by occasional random acts of ignorance, incompetence, or malice. Just like bogus driver’s license applications, bogus passport applications, or anything else you have to fill out a form for. Some people fill them out wrong just to be smartasses, and some just make mistakes. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/165 "2008-10-19T02:39:02Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > Fake attempted registrations are not OK, but they are part and parcel with dealing with jerks. Every group has jerks in it. Rich jerks and poor jerks and white jerks and black jerks and Republican jerks and Democratic jerks. > > I would guess, though I don’t know how to prove it, that boards of election get fraudulent registration cards by mail all the time. It seems like it would > appeal to the same caliber of brain as finds prank calls funny. As long as ACORN is registering democrat voters, though, you’re cool with that, right? ---
**Author:** ![ladyfoxfyre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ad7895/32.png) [@ladyfoxfyre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ladyfoxfyre)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/166 "2008-10-19T02:41:47Z")
Guys, please. I beg of you. She understands. She truly does understand all of this. If she sits and picks her pedantic little brain, she will. And she will dodge questions and tell you to fuck off when you don’t answer hers. You see? No amount of breaking down the obvious will get her to agree that sending in a registration form =! being registered to vote, and registering a cartoon character to vote =! voter fraud as long as Mickey Mouse isn’t actually voting. She is a troll, everybody knows it, but she comes back once in a while to pester you all into playing with her. Don’t do it, you won’t win, because she isn’t debating with you, she’s screaming in a corner like a 3 year old throwing a temper tantrum. You don’t try to reason with a temper tantrum, you just ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/167 "2008-10-19T02:44:47Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Incidentally, in my lifetime I’ve met people named Jack Daniels, Charles (Chuck) Norris, and (seriously) Ronald McDonald. I’d bet, if they ever tried to register to vote by mail, they’d get flagged as suspicious, but would be quickly confirmed as real by their registrar’s office, as all their other information checks out. They’re real citizens, perfectly qualified to vote, and if an ACORN worker had the authority to toss their registration form, they probably would, and they would be dead wrong. I’ve met London England and Candy Barr. Amongst the famous, how about Yogi Berra or Armand Hammer? What it comes down to is this: Most Republicans think ACORN is a bunch of fools, partisans, and nogoodniks. Do we want fools, partisans, and nogoodniks to have the power to discard voter registrations willy-nilly? Isn’t it safer to let the people with the tools to weed out the garbage weed out the garbage? ACORN should and must treat each registration as if it is valid. To do otherwise risks taking the vote away from the Ronald McDonalds and Candy Barrs of the world. And yes, the Mickey Mouses. With apologies to Ogden Nash: To disenfranchise Mickey Mice isn’t nice. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/168 "2008-10-19T02:45:14Z")
> [@Carol Stream](#): > > As long as ACORN is registering democrat voters, though, you’re cool with that, right? Democrat voters, Publican voters, Independent voters, any voters, I’m in favor of registering all of them. I think participating in the electoral process is by default a good thing, and I’m willing to accept that there will inevitably be some screwups now and then in dealing with the paperwork. That’s why we have electoral officials to deal with registration forms, and to make sure that screwed-up registration forms don’t actually lead to false registrations or fraudulent voting. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/169 "2008-10-19T02:45:20Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > As long as ACORN is registering democrat voters, though, you’re cool with that, right? Well, that seem out of left field. ACORN is not doing the registering, remember. They’re submitting registration forms. The local government does the actual registering, after confirming that each form is not fraudulent. ACORN helps this process by flagging forms it suspects are fake. Acknowledging that some people are jerks and will fill out fake forms and having a procedure to deal with that fact is not the same as being OK with said jerks. ---
**Author:** ![Carol\_Stream](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@Carol\_Stream](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carol_Stream)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/170 "2008-10-19T02:50:43Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > Like I just said, they’re produced by occasional random acts of ignorance, incompetence, or malice. > > Just like bogus driver’s license applications, bogus passport applications, or anything else you have to fill out a form for. Some people fill them out wrong just to be smartasses, and some just make mistakes. Some don’t fill them out to vote for Barack Obama? ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/171 "2008-10-19T02:51:16Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > She truly does understand all of this. If she sits and picks her pedantic little brain, she will. And she will dodge questions and tell you to fuck off when you don’t answer hers. You see? No amount of breaking down the obvious will get her to agree that sending in a registration form =! being registered to vote, and registering a cartoon character to vote =! voter fraud as long as Mickey Mouse isn’t actually voting. > > She is a troll, everybody knows it, but she comes back once in a while to pester you all into playing with her. Don’t do it, you won’t win, because she isn’t debating with you, she’s screaming in a corner like a 3 year old throwing a temper tantrum. You don’t try to reason with a temper tantrum, you just ignore it. I know she, like Bricker, will never admit this is a smokescreen. But I think that there are very reasonable people who didn’t get it. This effort is for them. This is a topic about which there’s a metric shitload of misinformation. I’d bet a nickel my mother, a smart lady, doesn’t get it. Besides, Carol Stream has already come farther than the rest of the conservatives on this board. She has stated flatly that ACORN doesn’t benefit from submitting fake registrations. And her OP in the Biden thread was funny, so I kinda like her. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/172 "2008-10-19T02:55:44Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > As long as ACORN is registering democrat voters, though, you’re cool with that, right? They’d better be registering Democratic voters, after all the flak they’re taking from Republicans! 😃 But more, they’d better be handing in every damned registration card their grubby paws touch. _I want you to vote, CS._ I want every eligible voter in this country to vote in every election. I want my coworker T to vote even though I know for a certainty she wouldn’t vote for a Democrat. She’s not registered to vote and I urged her to register. I want to have A vote, not THE vote. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/173 "2008-10-19T02:57:37Z")
> [@Carol\_Stream](#): > > Some don’t fill them out to vote for Barack Obama? If they fill them out correctly, yes, they will be in fact allowed to vote for whomever they like once their local voter registration office confirms their information. If they fill them out with a fake name, fake address, fake ID number, fake anything else, or if they submit it after the deadline in their state, then no, they will not be allowed to vote, even if they sincerely want to vote. ---
**Author:** ![Frank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Frank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frank)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/174 "2008-10-19T02:59:52Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > If they fill them out correctly, yes, they will be in fact allowed to vote for whomever they like … Even if it’s Barack Obama? That’s just . . . wrong. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 3:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/175 "2008-10-19T03:05:26Z")
Shocking, I know. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/176 "2008-10-19T03:12:17Z")
> [@jsgoddess](#): > > I want every eligible voter in this country to vote in every election. I want my coworker T to vote even though I know for a certainty she wouldn’t vote for a Democrat. She’s not registered to vote and I urged her to register. And THIS is where you differ from the official Republican Party. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/177 "2008-10-19T03:16:23Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > And THIS is where you differ from the official Republican Party. Yes, but not from most Republicans I know, which is what makes the party’s line so odd. ---
**Author:** ![Jenaroph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e8c25b/32.png) [@Jenaroph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jenaroph)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/178 "2008-10-19T03:19:30Z")
> [@ladyfoxfyre](#): > > Guys, please. I beg of you. She understands. She truly does understand all of this. If she sits and picks her pedantic little brain, she will. And she will dodge questions and tell you to fuck off when you don’t answer hers. You see? No amount of breaking down the obvious will get her to agree that sending in a registration form =! being registered to vote, and registering a cartoon character to vote =! voter fraud as long as Mickey Mouse isn’t actually voting. > > She is a troll, everybody knows it, but she comes back once in a while to pester you all into playing with her. Don’t do it, you won’t win, because she isn’t debating with you, she’s screaming in a corner like a 3 year old throwing a temper tantrum. You don’t try to reason with a temper tantrum, you just ignore it. Eh. So far, for the most part, she’s asking questions with answers. So long as she’s doing that, we may as well answer. She may pretend she’s not listening, but someone else might be, as **jsgoddess** said. > [@jsgoddess](#): > > Yes, but not from most Republicans I know, which is what makes the party’s line so odd. I agree. My grandmother’s happy I’m volunteering as a poll worker, even though she’s pretty sure I’m voting for a Democrat and she’s probably never voted anything but Republican in her 93-year life. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/179 "2008-10-19T03:22:29Z")
> [@Jenaroph](#): > > Eh. So far, for the most part, she’s asking questions with answers. So long as she’s doing that, we may as well answer. She may pretend she’s not listening, but someone else might be, as **jsgoddess** said. That, and I’ve learned a lot in looking up the answers. ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2008, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634/180 "2008-10-19T03:33:24Z")
> [@Carol Stream](#): > > Some don’t fill them out to vote for Barack Obama? 😕 Are you suggesting that registering to vote specifically because you want to vote for Barack Obama somehow counts as some kind of voter fraud? Are you **stoned** or something? Or were you trying in your inarticulate way to express concern that some ACORN workers might be filling out fraudulent registration cards in an attempt to create more Obama voters? If so, then what you need to remember is that **bogus registration cards have no impact on actual votes**. Even if, say, McCain campaign volunteers were working night and day filling out fake registration cards with names like “Rocksolid McCainvoter” and “Sarah Worshipper” and “G. O. P. Alltheway” and “Ivana Nother-Conservative” and “Will Vote Redd”, _it wouldn’t make a damn bit of difference to the number of votes actually CAST for McCain_. Because Mr. McCainvoter and Ms. Worshipper and Mr. Alltheway and Ms. Nother-Conservative and Mr. Redd _would never actually show up at the polls to vote for McCain on Election Day_. Because **there aren’t actually any sich persons**. I declare, I think **Carol** may be so upset because she actually believes that unscrupulous or incompetent ACORN workers are somehow **creating actual fraudulent Obama voters** when they fill out bogus registration cards. What, you think a fake registration card somehow magically produces a fake identity? And that an army of Inferi or zombies or whatever will be summoned up by the Prince of Darkness on Nov. 5 to use those fake identities to vote for Obama? If not, then what the fuck is it that you’re so worried about here? What actual bad effect do you think will be produced by the unfortunate but inevitable fact of having some fake registration cards submitted to election officials? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634.md?page=8) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-the-acronym-acorn-stand-for/467634.md?page=10)