A liberal activist group that has registered more than 200,000 voters in Florida has used a ballot initiative to raise by $1 that state’s minimum wage as a way to “increase voter turnout of working class, mainly Democratic voters” expected to vote against President Bush.
The Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), through a political action committee known as Floridians for All, outlined its Florida operation in a 16-page, October 2003 campaign plan, saying the minimum-wage initiative would “help defeat George W. Bush and other Republicans by increasing Democratic turnout in a close election.”
ACORN’s involvement is now under investigation by Florida authorities.
The organization’s campaign plan, a copy of which was obtained by The Washington Times, said “the need for an exciting ballot initiative strategy that works to address the needs of the most economically needy, and also likely Democratic voters, is a fundamental part of a winning strategy in Florida.”
Through Floridians for All — a coalition of labor unions, community and civil-rights organizations, churches, elected officials, political groups and grass-roots activists — the plan concluded that initiatives increase voter turnout and that “minimum wage initiatives can significantly increase the turnout of supporters without increasing turnout from the opposition.”
According to the plan, 6.1 million voters came to the polls in Florida in 2000, a turnout of about 70 percent. It said a targeted campaign that works to turn out another 1 percent of that electorate, about 61,000 voters, “would not only make the difference for the Democratic presidential candidate, but also lend significant support to congressional and local races.”
“Increasing turnout is critical to a successful 2004 electoral strategy from the top of the ticket all the way down, through many key races in Florida that include not only the presidency, but also a key Senate race, congressional seats and also significant turnover in the Florida Legislature,” the plan said.
The plan also said: “We do not want to leave turnout to chance.”
On July 27, the Florida Secretary of State’s Office validated 570,000 petition signatures to qualify a minimum-wage initiative for the Nov. 2 ballot. The signatures were among more than 1 million gathered by Floridians for All and ACORN volunteers. The initiative proposes to raise the state’s minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 per hour, and would directly raise wages for 300,000 workers.
“Giving our constituency an opportunity to vote themselves a raise is probably the most compelling reason to go to the ballot box,” said the ACORN plan, which listed in order its three major objectives: driving heightened Democratic turnout, passing the initiative, and building permanent political capacity for future gains.
The initiative effort has drawn the attention of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE), which has begun a statewide investigation into suspected voter fraud, focusing on accusations that ACORN used the petition drive to improperly register anti-Bush voters.
ACORN’s chief Florida organizer, Brian Kettenring, confirmed that the group registered thousands of Florida voters but denied the organization used fraudulent methods or deception.
FDLE officials said many of the complaints it received involved “organized efforts to commit voter fraud,” including voter registrations, party affiliation forms and absentee ballots, and accusations that ACORN volunteers and employees “have been connected with the widespread voter irregularities.”
The investigation, said FDLE officials, also has focused on accusations that in some cases people who believed they were signing various initiative petitions later found that their signatures or suspected forged signatures were used to complete fraudulent voter registrations.
Mark Wilson, head of Votesmartflorida.org, a Florida Chamber of Commerce group that first challenged ACORN’s petition drive, said ACORN brought in at least 200 people to conduct the petition initiative. He said his organization, which opposes the minimum-wage initiative, discovered that ACORN field directors were getting paid for voter registrations, which is illegal in Florida.
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