• 5,217 "students" who were registered to vote at a polling place located within the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee who listed as their residence as an on-campus dormitory that housed only 2,600 students

• At least 220 ineligible felons who had voted

• 370 addresses that were not legal residences in the city

• Residents of other states who registered and voted in Milwaukee

• Numerous staffers from out of state who were working for the Kerry campaign or the Environmental Victory Campaign, a political action committee, and who illegally registered and voted in Milwaukee

• Hundreds of homeless individuals registered as living at office buildings, at store fronts, and in multiple locations who were "able to vote in different districts and, by sheer number, could have an impact on a closely contested local election.

One of the more common methods involves placing a small bit of pencil lead beneath a thumbnail.  As corrupt poll workers sort through results, they will discretely make additional marks on ballots cast against their candidate, thereby invalidating that voter's entry.  There are numerous ways of perpetrating voter fraud that I will not be discussing here.  Many of the more direct methods come with the high price of clear accountability and prosecutorial consequences.

Far simpler and much more anonymous methods are employed by questionable groups like Acorn (Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now) that continue to work tirelessly to interject their own agenda into the election process.

In September of 2008, James Terry of the Consumers Rights League testified at a joint House Administration and Judiciary Committee oversight hearing stating:

ACORN routinely says it will clean up its act. Yet, given its decade-long history of voter fraud, embezzlement, and misuses of taxpayer funds, ACORN's pattern of fraud can no longer be dismissed as a series of 'unfortunate events.'

We know about the thousands of potentially fraudulent voter registration cards turned in by ACORN and caught by officials.

From a Wall Street Journal article:

Acorn and its affiliates have pulled some real stunts in recent years. In Ohio in 2004, a worker for one affiliate was given crack cocaine in exchange for fraudulent registrations that included underage voters, dead voters and pillars of the community named Mary Poppins, Dick Tracy and Jive Turkey. During a Congressional hearing in Ohio in the aftermath of the 2004 election, officials from several counties in the state explained Acorn's practice of dumping thousands of registration forms in their lap on the submission deadline, even though the forms had been collected months earlier.

Recently in Michigan, according to a Detroit Free Press article:

ACORN's Michigan branch, based in Detroit, has enrolled 200,000 voters statewide in recent months, mostly with the use of paid, part-time employees.

"There appears to be a sizeable number of duplicate and fraudulent applications," said Kelly Chesney, spokeswoman for the Michigan Secretary of State's Office. "And it appears to be widespread."

Acorn is "looking into the problem".

King County Seattle prosecutors filed felony charges against Acorn last week in what has been described as the worst case of voter-registration fraud in state history.  Seven Acorn workers submitted 1,800 voter registration cards, but when election officials reviewed the registrations, only six turned out to be legitimate and verifiable.  In 2004, the Democratic governor won by 129 votes after three recounts and here we have one instance, in one city, where Acorn has put forth 1,800 fraudulent registrations.

I have written previously about Obama's questionable ties to Acorn, his work with the Woods Fund, the Chicago Annenburg Challenge and his legislative efforts on behalf of the Acorn.  The group also has substantial ties to the initial financial bail-out and the "crisis" with Fannie and Freddie.  The information is readily available to anyone that wishes to delve into the matter.

NRO contributing editor Stanley Kurtz has done extensive research into Acorn's questionable history and Obama's ties to the corrupt organization, but little mention of this is being made in the MSM.

John Fund, Wall Street Journal columnist and author of Stealing Elections: How Voter Fraud Threatens Our Democracy has also chronicled numerous instances of voter fraud in previous elections.

Some of the more recent developments are outlined below.

The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review reports:

U.S. Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat's campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports.

More than 1,200 payments to Acorn were classified as being for "advance work" in the Obama campaign ledgers.

Acorn's "community organizers" are already actively manipulating the vote in Ohio after Democratic Secretary of State, Jennifer Brunner created a new rule that allows Ohio citizens to register and vote on the same day.  Brunner also gave an advisory opinion to counties saying that election monitors are no longer required.

John McCain's campaign recently distributed more than one million applications for absentee ballots in Ohio, each with a checkbox in the corner saying "I am a qualified elector".  Going against state law, Brunner told election officials to reject those applications if the box was not checked - the subsequent case against Brunner was won with a unanimous decision by the state supreme court.

When speaking in Ohio last week, Obama was asked by a supporter in the crowd:

I would like to know what you can say to reassure us that this election will not be rigged or stolen? [applause] -- or stolen? [applause]

Obama replied:

It helps in Ohio that we have democrats in charge of the machines.  but, look, I come from Chicago. Some want to be honest, it is not as if it is just republicans who have monkeyed around with elections in the past. Sometimes democrats have, too.

The same day vote law went into effect on Monday, Oct 1st and Ohio's homeless are already benefiting.  One "organizer" offering free rides to polling stations states:

"It's a perfect opportunity for them to come in, register at a temporary address like a homeless shelter or a YMCA or something like that. They can register at that address because they don't know where they're going to be tomorrow or next week."

The Miami Herald ran a previous story on voter pay-offs: "$10 buys one vote"

A man with a wad of cash was paying for votes. As word spread, dozens of people boarded vans, headed downtown and cast absentee ballots -- in exchange for $10 each.

Thomas Felder took the money.  "I had no choice. I was hungry that day, " said Felder, who is out of work and broke. "You wanted the money, you were told who to vote for -- 212, Suarez." That was Miami Mayor Xavier Suarez's number on the runoff ballot.

"I did it to get paid, that's all, " said Mary Ludlow, 32.. She said she was told to vote for Suarez, and did.

Surely the same thing is happening now.

Only one day into Ohio's early registration event, radio commentator Maggie Thurber cites a case where a homeless man votes in Ohio before returning to Chicago.  Click the link to watch video of the story.

Another beneficiary of the "get out the vote campaign" commented:

"They picked me up. They seen me walkin' around. So they said, `You wanna vote?' I said, `Yeah, I'll vote.' (laughs) They said, `We'll take you anywhere you want.' I said, `That's cool'...If they say 'sign the ballot,' just give `em and do exactly what they want you to do.' I mean, hey, this is America, you know?" (laughs).

Who are you voting for? [asked]  "Barack! I mean, I want him to do his thang. You know, do his thug thizzle. You know. That's how I like it to be. You know. (laughs)."

View the video here:  (New voters get rides to polling places)

Clearly an informed voter, cognizant of the subtle nuances within the positions of both campaigns.. Organizers hoped to sign up 1,000 like him by the end of the day yesterday -- and more all week.

Third Base Politics reports:

An unnamed source...related a heartwarming story of a 15 passenger van dropping off a load of drunk, homeless guys at Vet's Memorial in Columbus. The organizers were just trying to allow these men to exercise their right to vote, but it seemed that they were all too drunk to get in line. What commenced was a "homeless rodeo" where the organizers had to wrangle the men from the parking lot and load them back in the van.

The group, Muslim Americans for Obama, has initiated illegal get out the vote drives directed at Mosques throughout the country, one in particular, Dar al-Hijrah in Falls Church, VA, is known for hosting a number of the 9/11 hijackers.  Other targeted mosques are located in Michigan, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey and Ohio.

In a statement of clarification, Muslim Americans for Obama has noted to volunteers "that all voter registration activity is strictly non-partisan" (no advocacy on behalf of any candidate or party, whether written or verbal is permitted).  Hmm..

Obama has currently raised more than $426 million with more than half of that amount coming from donors that the Obama campaign refuses to disclose.  Until just recently, Obama's web site did not require proof of citizenship prior to contributing and millions in unverified foreign donations are raising questions.  The FEC has created a new database of questionable overseas donations from more than 11,000 contributors totaling $33.8 million. At least 520 donors listed their state as "IR" (Iran).

Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi recently gave a speech touting the virtues of Senator Obama and suggested the foreign nationals were contributing to his campaign:

"All the people in the Arab and Islamic world and in Africa applauded this man.  They welcomed him and prayed for him and for his success, and they may have even been involved in legitimate contribution campaigns to enable him to win the American presidency.."

In June of this year, the FEC requested verification from the Obama campaign for a number of donations from someone identified as Mr. Good Will - his employer is listed as "Loving" and his occupation is "You".

The FEC has uncovered more than one thousand separate entries in the Obama campaign's ledgers referencing Mr. Good Will.

The Obama campaign has also received more than 750 donations from a Mr. Doodad Pro (working for "Loving" in a profession of "You").

I realize that politics is a dirty business.  Both sides are most likely guilty of some manipulation but as with a previous piece about Obama's questionable past, the sheer number of these occurrences just seems to be more than what a reasonable person could chalk up to coincidence.

I'm sure the Republicans have their own issues, but in my research, I could find nothing close to the volume associated with Acorn and the Democrats.  The money flows from the innocent springs of good intentions and community activism but it's filtered with greed and corruption on its way to the highest elected leaders of our country.  As with much of my writing recently, the well originates on the streets of Chicago - the same street shared by Obama, Bill Ayers and Louis Farrakhan.  It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood.. would you buy mine, could you buy mine.. won't you buy my election?