Friends,

As most of you are aware, ACORN and our successful efforts to register 1.3 million low and moderate income people has come under fire in recent weeks. These attacks are the result of a small group of political operatives trying to orchestrate hysteria about "voter fraud" and manufacture public outrage that they can then use to justify fraudulently challenging voters at the polls and other schemes to suppress the votes of millions of low- income & minority Americans.

In Pennsylvania, ACORN has registered 140,000 new voters; 85,000 of those in Philadelphia. Despite the recent hype, less than 1.5% of the registration cards we submitted had missing or suspicious information. Our full-time quality control staff called every card we collected and separated out those we could not verify; we then handed them in, in three piles, with a cover sheets labeled “suspicious”, “unverified”, or “verified” (98.5%).

We wanted to tell you this because we value our relationship with you. Despite our best efforts, and a few balanced reports in recent days, we have found it difficult to break through the partisan sound machine that holds multiple press conferences a day spouting misinformation.

We must continue to do our work helping families save their homes, keep their heat on, fix their children’s schools, and find accessible and affordable healthcare. We must also ensure that the 1.3 million we have registered across the country and the millions of other new and not-so-new registrants do not face undue challenges or intimidation when they cast their ballot.

Bad registration cards do not equal bad votes. In fact, there has never been a fraudulent vote cast in this way. The Department of Justice reports that there have been less than 100 attempts at voter impersonation at the polls since its nationwide “crackdown” began in 2002. The instances of voter suppression continue to be all too common.

We urge you to watch this brief video on our work and the various attempts to suppress the vote over the last decade: Brave New Films: The Truth About ACORN.

For a lighter take check out Stephen Colbert’s recent segment on ACORN at: Colbert Report: 10/21