Michael McAuliff and John Celock, HuffPo:
If Republicans had an acronym for their aggressive voter outreach in North Dakota’s oil fields, it could be ACORN’D: Association of Conservative Oilworkers For a Republican North Dakota.That’s because Republican operatives deployed in the western part of the state where the oil industry is booming are using the same tactics that conservatives have often complained the defunct ACORN used to help Democrats: signing up transient and recent arrivals, such as colleges students, as voters. But in this case, the prospective voters are oil workers.The main effort is getting people who are drawn to the oil patch from far and wide to sign up as North Dakota residents, which automatically allows them to vote. The state has no voter registration process, and out-of-staters can vote legally in North Dakota as long as they have lived there for at least 30 days.
In the western part of the state, though, the effort has gotten so agressive that it’s now targeting people in bars, temporary housing and even in RV parks and pop-up “skid shack” towns.
Why McAuliff and Celock have to drag ACORN through the mud is not clear. The attempt to subvert North Dakota’s vote is bad enough that it deserves to be considered on its own.
