DailyKos linked to a great article on FactCheck.org that gives the facts on the whole ACORN “scandal.” Basically, the scandal is this. ACORN is an organization serving low-income areas (read: primarily non-white). Part of what they do to serve these low-income areas is sponsor voter registration drives. Because — I know this might seem shocking to some of you — but in America, even poor people are allowed to vote.

Now, some of these newly registered voters filled out their registration forms with fake names. If you have ever been involved in an election of any sort, you know that a certain percentage of the ballots are going to come back with “Heywood Jablowme” in the name field. Some of these fake registration cards were certainly filled out by registered voters. Some were filled out by the people who were paid to do the registering and were trying to get out of work for the day. Is this obnoxious? Absolutely. But is it, as McCain said during the final debate, “one of the greatest frauds in voter history in this country” which is “maybe destroying the fabric of democracy”? It is not. It is a shameful attempt by the Republicans to alienate low-income voters who will almost certainly vote for Obama.

And here’s the other point, which Daily Kos makes: registering phony voters is not voting fraud. Voting under a phony name is voting fraud. And there is not a chance in any known universe that Heywood Jablowme and Mickey Mouse are going to show up at the polls to vote.

I’ve said it before, and I’ve said it again: we don’t do that. We don’t start non-profit community service groups as a “front” for voter fraud. We start non-profit community service groups to serve the community. On its very surface, it’s ridiculous … I cannot think of a worse way to try to win an election than by registering phony voters. You’d have to register hundreds of thousands of them, organize them all in secret, and then spend the day driving them around without getting caught in order to even make a dent. It just isn’t practical, and the confusing contortions of logic one would have to go through to accept this as the most likely scenario would make for a lovely dance piece.