HARRISBURG – Republican Party of Pennsylvania Chairman Robert A. Gleason, Jr. today announced our Party’s lawsuit against the Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro Cortes and the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) and their subsidiaries. Chairman Gleason was joined at a press conference by former Supreme Court Justice and PAGOP Fair Elections Task Force Chair Sandra Newman, Vice-Chair Joyce Haas and other concerned Pennsylvanians as they expressed their concerns that our Commonwealth may not be able to have an open, honest and fair election this November 4th.
“With the election being only a couple of weeks away and with more and more incidents of voter fraud coming to light, we don’t believe that we can trust the results of this election,” Gleason said. “Today, our Party is announcing that in an effort to protect the sanctity of our electoral process, we have filed a complaint against the Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro Cortes, ACORN and its subsidiaries.”
“ACORN’s fraudulent activities threaten to dilute the votes of millions of Pennsylvania voters by allowing unqualified individuals to cast ballots and again undermine the voters’ confidence in the electoral process in the upcoming election,” Justice Newman added. “The Republican Party of Pennsylvania is seeking to obtain relief necessary to ensure that the 2008 General Election is fair, open and honest manner in order to preserve the ability of qualified Pennsylvanians to cast votes.”
Another plaintiff listed on the complaint was Craig Williams, who is a candidate in the 7th Congressional district and a former Federal prosecutor. Williams released the following statement in support of the lawsuit, "Voter fraud is a crime against democracy and violates a critical tenet of our system of government: one person, one vote," said Williams.
Williams continued, "Fraudulent voter registration is the groundwork
for stealing an election from honest, law-abiding citizens. We
need to send a clear message that Chicago-style politics of ‘vote early
and vote often’ will not be tolerated in Delaware County or the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As many of us have fought in combat
to protect the sacred rights guaranteed to citizens in our
Constitution, we will now fight to protect the fundamental American
right to a fully counted vote. It is time to shut down fraud
artists like ACORN and seek prosecution of all criminal activity
associated with their fraudulent voter registrations."
The lawsuit was filed
today in Pennsylvania's Commonwealth Court. The plaintiffs, which
includes the Republican Party of Pennsylvania, are seeking an order
directing the Secretary of the Commonwealth to ensure that the
Statewide Uniform Registry of Elector (SURE) system provides, in a
timely and efficient manner all Election Officials data about
registrants ineligible to vote, as required by state and federal
law. The complaint also demands that the Secretary of the
Commonwealth ensure that all Election Officials require identification
from all first-time registrants and also demands that the Secretarys
that the Secretary provide a significantly larger amount of provisional
ballots at each polling place so that voters whose voter registration
has not been timely processed by Election Officials on or before the
day of the 2008 General Election can vote provisionally.
In addition, the plaintiffs seek an order blocking ACORN and its subsidiaries from all attempts to encourage voters who have submitted false or duplicate registration forms from voting or attempting to vote in the 2008 General Election, directs the ACORN Defendants to provide to the Plaintiffs, the Secretary and the Election Officials copies of any and all lists identifying the names of individuals for whom the ACORN Defendants submitted voter registration forms, and directs the ACORN Defendants to fund public service announcements to educate all first time voters about the requirements to present identification in accordance with state and federal law, whether voting in person or via absentee ballot. Furthermore, the suits asks that ACORN be made to comply with similar mandates and requirements that were set forth in the King County Settlement and Compliance, in which ACORN agreed to extensive oversight by the state of Washington and King County with respect to voter registration activities and voter registration applications that are deemed to be potentially fraudulent and thus ‘suspect.’
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HARRISBURG – Attorneys representing the Republican Party of Pennsylvania argued in Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court our lawsuit against ACORN and the Secretary of the Commonwealth Pedro Cortes. Our attorneys called on Anita Moncrief, a former ACORN employee, to describe how ACORN worked hand-in-glove with the Obama Campaign. Chairman Robert A. Gleason, Jr. believes that this woman’s testimony proves that ACORN broke the Pennsylvania Election Code and numerous other Federal and Pennsylvania laws.
The testimony of Anita Moncrief proves that ACORN broke the Pennsylvania Election Code by paying employees per registration. As an employee of ACORN in Washington, D.C., she testified that the group had a quota system in place, where employees had to register 15-20 voters a day and if they failed to do so they would be fired. Moncrief also testified that the group did not adequately train its employees or monitor the quality of their work, and that employees would often submit bad registrations to meet their quotas. In addition, Moncrief’s testimony detailed how she received a list of donors from the Obama Campaign that was used to solicit donations to help fund ACORN’s efforts to get Obama elected.
“Moncrief’s testimony shed light on the inner workings of ACORN and
their fraudulent voter registration practices, and substantiates the
concerns our Party has raised in our lawsuit,” Chairman Gleason said.
“Her testimony makes it clear that the Obama Campaign, Project Vote and
ACORN are all working in direct coordination to help elect Barack Obama.
It is our hope that Moncrief’s testimony finally pushes the
Commonwealth and Secretary Cortes to understand how serious this
group’s actions are and take immediate actions to ensure the integrity
of this year’s election. ACORN is trying to steal this election
and we cannot let that happen.”
The Republican Party
of Pennsylvania would call on anyone who has additional information or
concerns regarding voter fraud to visit the PA GOP Fair Elections Web
page, www.wewantafairelection.com
or call our toll-free hotline at 1-877-51-PAGOP (1-877-517-2467).
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