Cross-posted at Project Vote's Voting Matters Blog

By Michael McDunnah

The McCain-Palin campaign and the Republican National Committee (RNC) spent the better part of the fall screaming about alleged "voter registration fraud," and to this day the GOP and the right-wing media machine continue to raise the specter of voter registration shenanigans that are somehow undermining the integrity of American  elections. Now, after months of reckless invective and fruitless investigations, incontrovertible facts have been admitted in court, and someone has finally been convicted of voter registration fraud.

Fraud did take place in the 2008 election--conducted for, and paid for by, the Republican Party.

There's more...

As I posted briefly the other night, the GOP's casting of ACORN as a villain in some fictional voter fraud is rampant drama is finally getting some strong pushback. Glad to see Brave New Films is on the case. This is a must-see video:

Now, mind you, the false accusations levied against ACORN have been uttered directly by John McCain himself, this is not some fringe accusation by a surrogate. And, as with much uttered by John McCain, it's completely based on lies, all while there actually IS voter registration fraud going on right here in California by a group hired to register Republicans by the California Republican Party and funded by Steve Poizner, the California Insurance Commissioner and McCain California co-chair.

The group is called Young Professional Majors and the method by which they fraudulently register Republicans (for $5 per registrant by the way) is a process called slamming. The LA Times has it:

Dozens of newly minted Republican voters say they were duped into joining the party by a GOP contractor with a trail of fraud complaints stretching across the country.

Voters contacted by The Times said they were tricked into switching parties while signing what they believed were petitions for tougher penalties against child molesters. Some said they were told that they had to become Republicans to sign the petition, contrary to California initiative law. Others had no idea their registration was being changed. [...]

It is a bait-and-switch scheme familiar to election experts. The firm hired by the California Republican Party -- a small company called Young Political Majors, or YPM, which operates in several states -- has been accused of using the tactic across the country.

What stake might the state party have in switching Democrats to Republicans beyond just voter roll bragging rights?

Those who were formerly Democrats may stop receiving phone calls and literature from that party, perhaps affecting its get-out-the-vote efforts. They also will be given only a Republican ballot in the next primary election if they do not switch their registration back before then. Some also report having their registration status changed to absentee without their permission; if they show up at the polls without a ballot they may be unable to vote.

The good news is that county DAs here in California, even registered Republicans, have been investigating YPM and the head of the group, Mark Jacoby, was recently arrested. From calitics:

The owner of a signature-gathering firm that works across California was arrested in Ontario today on suspicion of committing voter registration fraud, Secretary of State Debra Bowen announced.

Mark Anthony Jacoby, who owns the firm known as Young Political Majors (YPM), was arrested after allegedly registering himself to vote, once in 2006 and again in 2007, at an address where did not live. An investigation by the Secretary of State's Election Fraud Investigation Unit revealed that Jacoby twice registered to vote at the address of a childhood home in Los Angeles although he no longer lived there....

Notice that he was arrested for his own fraudulent voter registration, not for the slamming practices his organization regularly takes part in but this arrest, brought to you by our excellent Secretary of State Debra Bowen, at the very least put the CRP, YPM and all its minions throughout the state on notice. Yes, elections do have consequences.

So when you hear people talk about ACORN, show them the video above and remind them who the perpetrators of the real voter reg fraud are: the Republicans whose very survival depends on lower turnout and a loss in faith in the electoral process.

There's more...