ACORN to Help with the 2010 Census

An Appearance of Impropriety

The Association of Community Organizations for Reform or ACORN has been signed on as a partner in the 2010 national census. ACORN will help to hire temporary workers that will be needed to take a count of the people of the United States.

The problem is that ACORN has a history of committing voter fraud in its voter registration activities. ACORN's web of corruption and its ties to Barack Obama were noted during the political campaign. ACORN is not only under investigation for voter fraud, signing up fake people in voter registration drives, but also has involvement in sub-prime mortgage practices that led to the current economic crisis.

Other partners in the 2010 national census effort include Target and the NAACP. But ACORN's involvement has roused the suspicion of members of Congress. "It's a concern, especially when you look at all the different charges of voter fraud. And it's not just the lawmakers' concern. It should be the concern of every citizen in the country," Rep. Lynn A. Westmoreland, R-Ga., vice ranking member of the subcommittee for the U.S. Census said in an interview with Fox News.

An ACORN spokesman, Scott Levenson has pointed out that ACORN has not been indicted in any crime and claimed that fears of fraud being committed by ACORN in the taking of the census is unfounded. The Census Bureau was also defensive in its reaction. "The Census (Bureau) is a nonpartisan, non-political agency and we're very dedicated to an accurate account," bureau spokesman Stephen Buckner told FOX News. "We have a lot of quality controls in place to keep any kind of systemic error or fraudulent behavior to affect the counts."