A.C.O.R.N. and the appearance of impropriety

Lots of stupid in politics these days with less than a week until voting day, so of course, I have little time to write.

A.C.O.R.N., hereinafter ACORN, has been in the news lately because the RNC is accusing them of voter fraud. NPR had a guy on yesterday who was saying how that wasn't the issue because numerous studies have found that the ACORN type voter frauds were done for financial gain by workers who get paid per registration and that there is no evidence that any of these fake registrations voted. With respect to the credentials of NPR's expert, that is not the issue.

In law, we have a concept in our ethics rules called the "appearance of impropriety" which is a fancy way of saying that something looks like it might be fishy. We shall not undertake an action which has the appearance of impropriety, even if we are not actually doing anything wrong. We do this because the appearance casts suspicion on a process which must, ideally, be above such suspicions. Our courts work because most people believe they are generally fair, and we will go long strides to prevent anyone from being able to make an accusation, even if it turns out to be unfounded. Without faith, the system collapses because people will not turn to the courts for justice, they will take matters into their own hands.

The same applies to the American Republic. Generally Americans accept the result of election because we believe that with a handful of exceptions, they are generally fairly implemented. I know there are people out there who disagree, but I rather suspect that few of them who have lived in Third World (or even Second World) dictatorships where elections are rigged. It's all relative is the point. However, the majority of Americans have faith in our electoral process which is why it works. That faith legitimizes the results.

ACORN's admitted voter fraud instances undermine that faith and THAT is the problem. If we know we have fraudulent registrations, then even if we are being assured those people never vote, we all know they might vote or could vote. Just because someone is not caught, does not mean it doesn't happen. And that makes the results of elections suspect.

Consider it like keeping your cash in a bank vault. You find out that the bank is being routinely broken into every night. The bankers assure you that all the burglars are taking is jewelry, not cash. How much better do you feel? Probably not much. You'd probably get a new bank.

This is why the voter fraud in ACORN is a serious matter and not something to be dismissed as minor or unrelated to false votes. It undermines the entire process.

Then politics rears its ugly head. Dems want to keep ACORN because they know it does more to help than hurt them. Reps are the opposite for the same reason. This becomes a partisan fight which only enhances the appearance of impropriety and further weakens the faith in the system.

My Opinion: ACORN needs to be shut down and all it's voter registrations ejected. If the Dems want, they can allocate personnel and resources to going through the rejected registrations and verifying the legitimate ones. The Reps can as well. But the system and the public faith in it must be protected first.