Spreading Democracy at Home

President Lyndon Johnson signed the National Voting Rights Act of 1965, which outlawed discriminatory voting practices. The Act has been renewed periodically, most recently in 2006.

However, even then a number of Republican lawmakers acted to amend, delay or defeat renewal of the Act.

I provide this as background on the activities of a low-income and minority advocacy group, ACORN.

This week, John McCain warned that ACORN is "on the verge of maybe perpetrating one of the greatest frauds in voter history" and "may be destroying the fabric of democracy." I know that his statement was intended as a wedge issue, and is just political theater. In 2006, he was ACORN's keynote speaker.

Voter registration is not a crime. ACORN has helped 1.3 million citizens from all parties and all walks of life apply for voter registration. In most states, ACORN is required by law to turn in every voter registration card - even in cases where the cards are not valid. In fact, it is ACORN that has reported almost all of the issues regarding voter registration cards. Finally, invalid voter registration cards do not constitute voter fraud.

While voter registration is not a crime, voter suppression is. As evidenced by the need for the Voting Rights Act, the United States has had a history of engaging in that undemocratic method. Even today, 33 state election directors are elected partisans. Because of their partisan ties, election officials are often presented with a conflict of interest while directing elections. Two crucial states, Florida in 2000 and Ohio in 2006, had Republicans as their election officials.

On the other hand, the majority of the world's democracies use independent agents to manage elections.

How about encouraging and spreading democracy here, rather than using voter registration as a wedge issue?