[COMM-ORG] ACORN and voter registration

[Discussion list for COMM-ORG]

[ed: the election day update. We'll see whether this will continue to be 
a thread after today.]

From: Steve Kest, Executive Director, ACORN

Contact: Brian Kettenring, bkettenring at acornmail.net, (727) 692-7215 or 
Jeff Ordower (314) 267-4664

Re: Court Victory in Indiana Today

Date: November 3, 2008



Statement from Maude Hurd, ACORN National President





In court today in Indianapolis, Secretary of State Todd Rokita was 
forced to activate the applications of approximately 200 voters in 
Marion County who were not accepted by local Boards of Elections, 
despite being eligible to vote. The grounds for dismissal of their 
applications was that they had used old forms without a citizenship box 
to check. Since all the voters were in fact eligible, the State was 
required to place those voters on the rolls. The primary plaintiff was 
Drametra Brown, a certified nursing assistant, who was given a voter 
registration card by her supervisor at work. Those registration cards 
had been at the nursing home for a number of years.



ACORN President Maude Hurd said of the decision:



“This ruling will put a couple hundred citizens on Indiana voter rolls 
where they belong. The ruling is also a vindication of ACORN’s hard work 
in helping to register tens of thousands of new voters in Indiana, and 
emblematic of the kind of voter suppression that has characterized 
Secretary of State Rokita’s efforts.



We applaud the great work of Project Vote’s attorneys in seeking to 
ensure that as many voters as possible are able to cast their vote 
tomorrow in this historic election. We wish that Secretary Rokita would 
spend as much time ensuring that all eligible Hoosiers cast are able to 
cast a ballot as he has in persecuting those who are doing the hard work 
of voter registration and get out the vote.”



For more background on the suit, see: 
http://www.mydd.com/story/2008/11/3/15439/3913.





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Brian Kettenring, Head Organizer
Florida ACORN
1380 W. Flagler St. Miami, FL 33135
bkettenring at acornmail.net * www.acorn.org

(305) 644-3005 x114
(727) 692-7215 cell
(561) 828-3154 efax