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Mo. Gov. Blunt criticizes McCaskill over ACORN

By Marshall Griffin, KWMU

Jefferson City, MO – A political skirmish has erupted over news that some members of the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) may have been duplicating voter registration forms in the Kansas City area.

At a recent Barack Obama campaign event in Kansas City, Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill said that any ACORN member that duplicated forms should not be paid for their work.

"The number of people that have been registered in Missouri this year, the vast majority of them have been registered by people like the people standing behind me, who have volunteered their time to go out and register new voters...you're going to have thousands of people vote for the first time in Missouri, and we should be celebrating that, not criticizing it," McCaskill said.

But Governor Matt Blunt (R) is accusing McCaskill of not taking registration fraud seriously.

"Senator McCaskill's response (is) that registration fraud isn't nearly (as) significant as voter fraud, and that perhaps this had all been blown out of proportion...I think registration fraud is very serious," Blunt said.

Meanwhile, Laura Egerdal, Director of Communications for Secretary of State Robin Carnahan, says the system is working.

"Anyone who submits a false voter registration form is going to be caught before Election Day...that voter is not going to be placed on the rolls, and that's (going to) make sure our Election Day is secure," Egerdal said.

Egerdal also says the Secretary of State's office has no tolerance for any attempt to undermine Missouri's election system.

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