Scary stuff.

Well, it is, judging from the backlash the organization is encountering — and not just in Wisconsin. Nationwide. "Voter fraud!" is again the rallying cry.

Lesson previously learned: Allegations of massive voter fraud, shouted from the rooftops in election season, are something far less when the dust settles. In Wisconsin, ACORN is being excoriated for submitting registration cards found to be fraudulent and hiring seven felons as deputy registrars, those workers who try to get people to register.

We agree that ACORN shouldn't have hired the felons, who, by the way, appear to have done their jobs properly, the group says. A staff opinion by the state Government Accountability Board concludes that deputy registrar is an "office of trust, profit or honor." And the Wisconsin Constitution says, "No person convicted of a felony in any court within the United States" shall occupy such an office.

But even the City of Milwaukee, which conducts the sessions to deputize the registrars, wasn't aware of the staff opinion. Like ACORN, it presumed eligible voters are eligible for these jobs. Felons who have finished serving sentences and probations can vote in Wisconsin.

This is as it should be. Moreover, it's not as clear to us as it is to the GAB staff that the offices the constitution refers to are positions such as deputy registrars.

Here's what else you should know about these charges on ACORN's efforts in about 11 states.

The organization is obligated to turn in every registration card completed, even, as one spokesman put it, if it has the name Daffy Duck on it. The organization says it segregates and flags suspect cards to election authorities. It apparently doesn't catch all of them. But a vast conspiracy? We're doubtful. If a worker taking illegal shortcuts fakes a name on a registration card, that act overburdens election officials, but do we really think that the faked person will vote?

Voter registration fraud, when it occurs, is a serious matter, and it's obvious that even if ACORN is catching many, the number of bad registrations it is turning in points to quality control problems. However, most of the cards submitted, said Milwaukee's top election official, appear to be good.

If the past is prologue, much of this ballyhoo is really about those new voters and candidate they might vote for.

REPRINTED FROM THE MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL.

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