Exaggerated voter scandals from ACORNs grow

The partisans at Mr. D's Bar and Grill, official Dallas Cowboys country on Rainbow Boulevard, must have been momentarily elated to hear that members of their favorite football team had moved to Las Vegas.

And let's not forget those other outposts of Cowboys fandom, the Kopper Keg West, Pounders Sports Lounge, Rascals, the Road Runner, and the Whiskey Creek Saloon. Regulars must have been ecstatic to learn that NFL superstars such as Tony Romo and Terrell Owens had taken up residence in Southern Nevada.

Not only that, but they'd even taken time to register to vote! Talk about All-American lads.

Alas, the truth surely deflated the spirits of Dallas diehards like the air from Charlie Brown's football. As we now know, Romo and Owens and other Cowboys didn't move here or register to vote. Their names were among the incomplete voter registration passes that floated from the offices of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and were intercepted by Clark County Registrar of Voters Larry Lomax and Secretary of State Ross Miller.

The Cowboys' names are among numerous registration oddities discovered during ACORN's sweeping local voter registration drive that critics are calling voter fraud. More than throwing penalty flags, they're tossing around elaborate conspiracy theories stretching from here to the desk of Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama. The cry of foul attracted the attention not only of Miller and Lomax, but the FBI as well.

Problem is, the supposed ACORN scandal here appears to be more shenanigans than scam. Not that the simple truth will be believed by those who are sure ACORN is locked in a conspiracy to defraud the American voting public and prevent it from electing a Republican. ACORN's political action committee has endorsed the candidacy of Barack Obama.

It's good to know the FBI is looking into ACORN's operation. Perhaps its local agents can find the voter fraud because, frankly, I sure can't.

There's an important difference between crudely faked voter registrations, the kind filled in by canvassers who get paid by the name, and genuine voter fraud.

For an example of the difference, take the activity that took place at a local bar called the Clubhouse Tavern. Back in 2002, Clubhouse owner Gary Horrocks was an unsuccessful Assembly candidate and motorcycle association lobbyist who came up with a plan: He'd enlist the tavern's regulars and friends of the motorcycle association to register to vote at the bar and use addresses he provided that just happened to be located inside Assembly District 37. Horrocks even had registrants request absentee ballots. He filled in the blanks and helped tilt the outcome of the Assembly race.

That's voter fraud. There was a clear conspiracy to defraud the process, and that conspiracy was carried out.

Under oath before a grand jury, County Recorder Frances Deane quoted Horrocks bragging about his accomplishment: "I had their votes mailed to my bar and my P.O. box, and we filled them out, and that's how I know we got you a hundred votes."

Although Deane later had her own troubles with law enforcement, there were enough corroborating witnesses to convict Horrocks. Clark County District Attorney David Roger stepped up, and Horrocks was indicted on 62 charges.

It wasn't until January 2008 that the case was resolved, with Horrocks accepting a single felony count. Horrocks and his wife, Pam, received probation.

What ACORN appears to have generated is mass voter registration incompetence. Of the estimated 90,000 "new voters" registered by the organization, Lomax said he believes up to half the registrations were fake or duplicated -- and most of those weren't caught by ACORN's in-house "quality control" system.

The real story is reassuring. The problems were identified by the county registrar and secretary of state in advance of early voting.

"I think, if anything, what this proves is that the system works," Miller said Friday.

Does anyone in authority have an indication that any of the corrupted registrations would be used fraudulently on Election Day?

"I think I can safely say we haven't seen any evidence of that," Miller said.

That doesn't mean ACORN won't have plenty of explaining to do.

Nor does it mean there isn't fraud going on inside the organization.

But it does mean there's no evidence yet of voter fraud rising from ACORN's Nevada operation.

That's bad news for Dallas Cowboys fans, but good news for Nevada voters.

John L. Smith's column appears Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday. E-mail him at Smith@reviewjournal.com or call (702) 383-0295.