Recently, the nation’s largest community organization, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) has come under fire with John McCain campaign, the Republican National Committee and the right wing media over bogus allegations of voter fraud.

In jeopardy of losing its eight year grasp on the US Presidency, the Republican Party have launched a full out assault to suppress the votes of African Americans, Latinos, low-income citizens, and youth, who have registered in record numbers, this election year. In a sign of desperation of losing the election, during the final presidential debate, McCain told the public that ACORN is “on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history” and “destroying the fabric of democracy.”

The primary allegation against ACORN occurred earlier this month when the Associated Press reported that the FBI raided ACORN’s Las Vegas office for “submitting fraudulent voter-registration forms.” It was later revealed that ACORN employed canvassers who submitted fraudulent voter registration cards with names from the Dallas Cowboy’s starting line up as well as the Disney cartoon characters “Mickey Mouse” or “Donald Duck.”

In a sworn affidavit used to secure the search warrant used by Nevada officials, according to the criminal investigator with the Nevada Secretary of State, ACORN immediately fired the people who filled out bogus forms once it was identified by ACORN’s internal quality control process.

This is not the first time ACORN have been accused and have convicted former employees of submitting false voter registration. I do have to admit, as a social worker, McCain’s accusation of ACORN is very disturbing, considering he was willing to be a featured speaker in a 2006 rally with ACORN for immigration reform.

If ACORN is and has been “destroying the fabric of democracy,” why did McCain attend their convention?

The first time I heard of ACORN was in grad school when I was getting my Master’s degree in social work. One of the mandates of social work is to advance the interests of social justice, particularly on behalf of populations or groups that have been disadvantaged, disempowered, or discriminated against. While I was attending grad school in the 90’s, the work they were doing had a major influence in my decision to go into community organizing as a social worker.

ACORN is a community-based organization that advocates for low and moderate income families founded in 1970 by Wade Rathke and Gary Delgado. The organization is known for advocacy for social and economic justice. They have tackled a number of critical issues on their behalf, such as better housing for first time homebuyers; living wages for low-wage workers; investment in communities from banks and governments; and better public schools. While there are many ways to bring about change, nothing will ever match the power of voter participation.

Participation in political processes is vital to the functioning of a free and democratic society. It is organizations like ACORN who have removed the barriers to registration by providing information to people who do not have information, translating information about registration into the languages of people who are not fluent in English, providing information orally to people who have low levels of literacy, providing transportation options for people who do not have cars or other forms of transportation, and explaining the importance of voting to those who do not think it is important.

It is evident John McCain and certain members of GOP are not concern about the integrity of the voting process; rather they prefer to maintain the status quo by discrediting and demonizing organizations like ACORN and and to circumvent the right of citizens to vote. At first glance, the accusation seemed like another ordinary right-wing smear, twisting a small fact torn from context into a sinister accusation. There is more to this attack than meets the eye.

When it comes to voter fraud, the chances of it occurring less likely to occur than lightning striking a person, according to data compiled by New York University’s Brennan Center for Justice. As Lorraine Minnite, a Columbia University professor, observed in the Project Vote report, The Politics of Voter Fraud, “The claim that voter fraud threatens the integrity of American elections is itself a fraud.”

Suppressing the vote has long been a cornerstone of the GOP’s electoral strategy. Recently, Brave New Films released a new short film debunking the McCain’s smear campaign. The film points out that the roots of this strategy can be traced back to one of the today’s GOP principal architects, Paul Weyrich, who said:

“Many of our Christians have what I call the ‘goo-goo’ syndrome - good government. They want everybody to vote. I don’t want everybody to vote. Elections are not won by a majority of the people. They never have been from the beginning of our country and they are not now. As a matter of fact, our leverage in the elections quite candidly goes up as the voting populace goes down.”

Today, Weyrich’s vision has become a national reality. The last two national elections proved that the enemies of full participation are still with us. Sabes que? Basta!! Enough is enough! It is time to put an end to this hi-tech form of racism and classism.

With less than two weeks till election day, we are on the eve of one of the most important presidential elections in history and turnout is expected to reach record highs. The Republican Party and right-wing media’s attack on ACORN is motivated primarily by their fear of electoral defeat, and their contempt for poor, minority voters who will help usher in that defeat. As long as they continue to deploy these tactics, it’s not ACORN who is “destroying the fabric of democracy” but the GOP by reverting America back to classifying people of color and the working class as second-class citizens. And second-class citizenship is nothing more but modern day slavery.

As Paulo Freire contends, information is power. We are at the point where it is freedom for everybody or freedom for nobody. We cannot afford to roll our eyes whenever the issue comes up and hope lessons have been learned. The allegations of “voter fraud” is a classic Rovian tactic, one that is currently being is used Karl Rove’s right-wing predecessors. The whole gambit is clearly designed to create a sexy headline to help cover up actual election fraud undertaken on behalf of McCain.

We can expect many more voter suppression tactics to pop up between now and Election Day - such as voter intimidation masquerading as “poll watching,” misleading campaigns providing false election information, malfunctioning voting machines, unfounded accusations of fraud and this is just the tip of the iceberg. The only way we are going to solve this problem is through unity and the power of the voting booth. We must look at this seriously and not just sit idly by this time around. We cannot allow the Democratic Party to brush it off like they did in the last two presidential elections.

Today we find ourselves in a unique situation because we have a chance to make history and begin the healing process. While the Democrats may not be perfect, however, we can hold them accountable for their actions once they are elected. I rather be given this opportunity than have another four years of Republican rule.

Fighting the right to vote is a fight that is worth fighting and dying for.

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