Las Vegas NowACORN Investigation Grows Deeper

ACORN Investigation Grows Deeper

There are now two investigations in Nevada into the community advocacy group called ACORN -- one by the Secretary of State and the second by the Nevada Department of Corrections. One is looking into possible voter registration fraud and identity theft by ACORN and the other is looking at how inmates were hired to register voters.

According to a spokesman for the Secretary of State, both investigations may connect. The spokesman adds that the state is doing everything possible to finish them before the election.

State investigators raided the Las Vegas ACORN office October 7, 2008. At a video conference with the Department of Corrections, Director Howard Skolnik admitted knowing there may be wrongdoing two and a half months prior.

"The staff of NDOC was not aware of the fact that these individuals were registering voters until July 31^st," he said.

Nevada laws say inmates may not be involved in elections.

One inmate found a classified for a job with ACORN. He asked a company called Choices, which is contracted to find inmates jobs, if he could accept the job. He was approved.

Eventually, 59 inmates were signing up voters.

They all came from Casa Grande, a transitional housing program for inmates up for parole. One was in prison for identity theft.

"He has been thoroughly investigated by our staff and I believe yours. There is no evidence that he exercised his skills in this particular case," said Skolnik.

Skolnik adds there will be disciplinary action against state workers for the lack of oversight.

As for the Secretary of State's case, investigators are going through each one of the registration forms in the 22 boxes confiscated.

Spokesman Bob Walsh says there was a reason it was a search warrant and not an arrest warrant, "It was a search warrant in order to determine the scope and the motivations of any of this."

Walsh says anyone, from the worker turning in fake registrations to the head of the community group, ACORN, could be prosecuted. It's a matter of determining what evidence the state collects.

"Depending on who you ask, it's either a couple of guys trying to keep their job or a massive political conspiracy or something in between," he said.

The state also collected six hard drives with voter information on it. Investigators are looking at a possible charge for identity theft.

Technically, the transfer of personal information for profit could be identity theft. Investigators are seeing whether ACORN was using the voter information they collected to gather donations as well.