ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- After the New Mexico Republican Party claimed Thursday that fraudulent voters—including some registered to vote by ACORN—participated in the June, 2008 Democratic primary, ACORN contacted some of the voters Republicans said were bogus.  ACORN presented its findings Saturday morning during press conference at ACORN’s New Mexico headquarters.

The voters that the Republicans named in their press conference on Thursday were quickly reached by ACORN Thursday night.  They include three 18 and 19-year-olds and a new citizen, all  first-time voters.   Their legitimacy was confirmed by the Bernalillo County Clerk.  All confirmed that they voted in the June primary and expressed outrage that the Republican Party is targeting them.

 “This is un-American,” said Celestina Balderas, an ACORN leader. “What we have learned today is that a new citizen who votes in America now risks getting attacked by the Republican Party.  ACORN will not allow this scare off new, legitimate voters.”

 “What these Republican operatives did is criminal,” said ACORN member Dana Gallegos. “They violated these voters' privacy,  and they want to deprive them of their right to vote. These kinds of dirty tricks tear at the fabric of our democracy. We demand an apology from the Republican Party, and we demand that Senator McCain denounce these partisan scare tactics.”

 ACORN confirmed with the Bernalillo County Clerk that the voters in question were all legitimate. They include:

•  Dora Pargas Escobedo, a 67-year-old immigrant who became a naturalized, United States citizen this year,

• Brittany Nicole Rivera, an 18-year-old Albuquerque resident,

• Francine Gonzales, a 19-year-old Albuquerque resident,

• Francisco Martinez, also a recently-turned 19-year-old Albuquerque resident.

ACORN registered 80,000 voters in New Mexico this year.