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Originally Posted by detbuch

How does paying someone to register to vote help low income people other than getting them to vote for the perpetuation of government handouts?

I don't think Acorn is telling them how to vote, but I would agree that statistics indicate lower income urban areas don't tend to vote for the GOP.

The ultimate reason to register for voting is to vote. You pay someone to register voters for the same reason you ask a volunteer to do it.

It's really about participation and the sense of empowerment.

You don't THINK(?) it is? How is it that low income and voting democratic is a natural product?

Because low income areas are more dependent on others. A simple and common expression of this is found in the soup kitchen which are usually driven by religious rather than political beliefs. The Democratic platform certainly tends to share more of this "village" mentality.

Are there low income areas that vote Republican? Has Acorn helped those areas?

Don't know...but I don't know of too many low income urban areas that vote Republican.

You don't BELIEVE(?) any federal money has gone into registration "activities?" What other money do they have? And what BELIEFS(?) can be founded on books that need more transparency?

This is from what know...

What else has ACORN done? Is it another one of those groups that are supposed to "empower?" Like those housing scams in Chicago?

I think voter registration is a small part of what the group has done. Their website lists a number of issues where they believe they've benefited the low income community.

I'm not sure how it's all funded, although what's clear is that they get a small amount of money from taxpayers, and even that has to go through a competitive bid process.

My position on this has been pretty simple. I'm not an Acorn supporter, but I think the GOP rhetoric on Acorn has been very misleading, if not simply dishonest.

-spence