The majority of Republican voters, the rank and file membership, are Republicans because they agree with the basic Republican values (small government, fiscal responsibility, some social conservatism), regardless of the fact that the party operatives haven’t actually delivered on those values for several decades now.
The majority of Republican politicians, including the party machinery who don’t actually hold official government posts, are Republicans because they’ve figured out how to manipulate that rank and file’s votes to achieve power. They like the power and they like using that power to make themselves and their friends wealthy(er). The basic Republican philosophy of governing, not so much.
I think this simple failure to communicate will be solved when we all realize that when a Republican voter drive receives a card filled out with a funny name*, they throw it in the trash.
It doesn’t really matter who “Mickey Mouse” intended to vote for. Mickey Mouse doesn’t have a driver’s license identifying him as Mickey Mouse, so he doesn’t get to vote on election day. A voter registration form does not equal a vote.
It is, technically. In practice, not as much. But my comment simply went to the Jenaroph’s post, which implied that they were able to act in a partisan manner.
Well, how was ACORN supposed to stop this guy? He had a valid name and a valid address (albeit not his).
What institutional change do you propose that would have stopped this guy from attempting to register multiple times? As noted above, he was caught by the registrar. This fruitloop was warned to stop by the authorities, yet continued. Then he went and voted, and got busted. Far as I can tell, the system works.
Personally, I’m not happy with ACORN. They do have a history of this sort of problem, for various reasons. But if ACORN is forbidden to collect voter registration, then we also have to outlaw the League of Women Voters and other organizations that do the same thing.
That this has been explained multiple times, in multiple posts, in multiple threads, THEY HAVE TO FILE EVERY REGISTRATION THEY COLLECT IF THEY DON’T THEY’RE BREAKING THE LAW, and you still don’t understand it speaks loudly.
Sorry CMC, I didn’t quite get that. Am I to understand that there is some law REQUIRING groups that register voters to submit ALL of the paperwork, even if they suspect that some of them are false? This new learning amazes me! What a good law! Otherwise, groups could go into a predominantly (lets say democrat) area, collect registrations and then throw them all away! And this good law prevents that! Excellent!
THEY AREN’T DOING THAT, DAMMIT. They aren’t asking people to register as Mickey Mouse.
BECAUSE IT’S ILLEGAL, DAMMIT. If some wiseass takes the form offered to them and fills it out with a fake name, ACORN LEGALLY CANNOT REJECT IT.
From this point on, please preface your posts with: “I understand that ACORN cannot legally reject or discard registrations even if they seem fake, but…”
I seriously doubt my local municipality would register Mr. M. Mouse, so how are the rules different for ACORN? Are you saying that the law requires groups like ACORN to be less stringent in their documentation? That doesn’t pass the common sense test.
A note of curiosity. I see several times the phrasing “most states require…” that all such registrations be turned in, clearly to prevent mischief, etc. But which do not, and what could their justification be?
Couldn’t be simpler. Your local municipality is empowered to register voters. By the same token, they are empowered not to, if they have sufficient reason, such as an abridgement of civil rights due to felony conviction, etc.
The ACORN workers are not…let me repeat that for you, you seem to have some problem with this…not registering voters. They are assisting and encouraging that registration, but they are not empowered to decide anything at all…anything, mind you!.. as to the registrants status or eligibility. They can only pass along the paper work to the empowered authority. Period. Full stop.