Were Minnesota Felons Registered to Vote by ACORN?

Rep. Issa Asks Minnesota Secretary of State to Preserve 2008 Election Cycle Records

WASHINGTON, DC – Oversight and Government Reform Committee Ranking Member Darrell Issa (R-CA) today in a letter to Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie requested that all Minnesota election records from the 2008 election cycle be preserved and asked for information about voter registration concerns previously raised by the government watchdog group Minnesota Majority.

“In a previous report on ACORN, congressional investigators on my staff found ACORN’s Minnesota chapter hired a felon to engage in voter registration activities.  Indeed, the connection between ACORN and registered felons in Minnesota is not an isolated incident.  ACORN has a history of using felons to conduct its nation-wide efforts at political subversion,” wrote Issa.  “The likelihood that voter fraud perpetrated by convicted felons could have influenced the outcome of the 2008 Minnesota Senate race justifies further investigation into these matters.  Therefore, I write to request that you direct Minnesota county auditors, municipal clerks, school district clerks and other appropriate state and local officials to retain indefinitely all records and materials from the November 2008 election currently in their custody.”

A report released earlier this year by Oversight Committee Republicans,  “Follow the Money: ACORN, SEIU and their Political Allies” found that both Hennepin and Ramsey Counties in Minnesota had previously discovered fraudulent voter registration activities by the Minnesota chapter of ACORN (now known as Minnesota Neighborhoods Organizing for Change).  Minnesota election records may show whether felons in Minnesota registrered to vote were done so through national efforts by the troubled left-wing group ACORN.

Click here for a copy of the letter sent to Secretary of State Richie.