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Headlines for Cleveland and Northeast Ohio

Multiple registrants tell Cuyahoga County Elections Board ACORN workers 
begged for signatures

Pair signed multiple vote cards for ACORN
Tuesday, October 14, 2008 Joe GuillenPlain Dealer Reporter

Teenager Freddie Johnson said he was offered smokes and dollar bills to 
fill out voter registration cards. 

And now the Cuyahoga County Elections Board has 73 cards with Johnson's 
name on them. 

Johnson and another prolific registrant were subpoenaed to testify at a 
meeting Monday as the Elections Board continued its look at possible 
fraud by ACORN, a national organization that tries to get low- and 
moderate-income people to register. ACORN's methods have drawn interest 
in a number of states this presidential election year. 

Johnson, 19, said he mostly was trying to help ACORN workers who begged 
him to sign up because they needed to keep their jobs. 

"They'd come up with a sob story why they needed the signature," said 
Johnson, of Garfield Heights. 

ACORN leaders have acknowledged that workers paid by the hour were given 
quotas to fill. 

Board member Sandy McNair said ACORN did not do a competent job carrying 
out its business plan. Members, in fact, said little about ACORN. And 
they turned their investigation over to the county sheriff and 
prosecutor. 

A second person to testify, Christopher Barkley, 33, said ACORN workers 
pestered him while they tried to gather signatures. 

Barkley, of Cleveland, said he was homeless and reading a book on Public 
Square when he signed some of the 13 cards that contain his name. He 
filled out cards - with his mother's house or workplace as the address - 
to help workers stay employed. 

"Me being a kind-hearted person, I said 'Yeah,' " Barkley recalled. 

Barkley, who wore a Domino's Pizza polo shirt, also told the board he 
was not sure he signed all the cards that had his name. 

After the testimony, board Chairman Jeff Hastings paged through a binder 
that contained copies of cards with Barkley's name on them, and said, 
"This is ridiculous." 

Sheriff's deputies interviewed both men separately after their 
testimony. They were released and not charged. Chief Deputy Doug 
Burkhart said they are possible witnesses. 

The board decided that Johnson and Barkley must cast provisional ballots 
if they vote in the presidential election. Provisional ballots are not 
counted until after the election and only after a voter's address is 
verified. 

Two other people were subpoenaed for Monday but could not be found. The 
board canceled both of their registrations and forced another woman 
involved in the investigation to vote provisionally in the Nov. 4 
election. 

One of the no-shows has already tried to vote, the board was told. His 
registration already had been canceled, yet he tried to register and 
vote on the same day about two weeks ago. Board workers recognized his 
name and stopped him. 

Katy Gall, ACORN's Ohio director, said outside the meeting that she's 
proud of the work her group did. Gall said some of the 13,000 canvassers 
nationwide obviously didn't live up to the organization's standards. She 
said ACORN will continue to help with the county's investigation and try 
to refine its programs. 

The Cuyahoga board identified up to 60 people whose names appeared on 
suspicious ACORN-submitted cards. 

Elections Director Jane Platten said the board has safeguards to catch 
fraudulent cards and stressed that voter registration fraud is not the 
same as voter fraud. 

Ohio law says a person must cast a provisional ballot if an address 
cannot be verified. The board checks addresses by sending out mail that 
is not to be forwarded. Poll books are marked to tell workers who must 
cast provisional ballots. 

Board member Rob Frost, also the county GOP chairman, said he is not 
convinced Barkley and Johnson would have tried to vote more than once. 
He said it's clear ACORN workers disregarded registration laws. 

"I wouldn't want there to be widespread fear that what ACORN has caused 
will lead to widespread [voter] fraud," Frost said after the meeting. 

Board workers said ACORN had turned in nearly 72,000 cards since 
January. Of those, more than 5,000 were missing information and so could 
not be used. The board could not verify the address on 3,500 others. 
Those people will have to vote provisionally if they turn out at the 
polls. 

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: 

jguillen{at}plaind.com, 216-999-4675 

CMPQwk 1.42-21 9999 
Patriotism is not who can leak the most Secret documents to the NY Times ...

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