On Oct. 6, ACORN and Project Vote announced the conclusion of the most successful nonpartisan voter registration drive in history, assisting more than 1.3 million Americans in completing applications to register to vote in 21 states.

"We met with unprecedented success in our efforts to ensure that all eligible applicants are on the voter rolls," said Michael Slater, Executive Director of Project Vote.

Slater said that the voter registration system in the United States – in which individual voters are responsible for getting on the rolls, unlike many European countries in which governments take responsibility for compiling voter lists – was designed to disenfranchise voters.

Bertha Lewis, Interim Chief Organizer of ACORN, said that the majority of the voters registered in this drive are young, African-American, Latino, and low-income Americans – groups which are all historically underrepresented in elections.

"Our voter registration drives are strengthening democracy," said Lewis. "We see this as an opportunity to permanently change the face of the electorate. Politicians will have to listen to low-income and minority people."

In Philadelphia, ACORN members dropped off the final 395 voter registration cards in their city's drive, which helped more than 85,000 new voters register to vote.

"The people I have helped to register are thrilled that ACORN is there to help," said Lamont Johnson of North Philadelphia ACORN. "They are excited to get registered for the first time and want to see change so we have more jobs and less crime."

The goal of ACORN and Project Vote's voter registration drives, Lewis stated, is to empower low-income and minority communities by giving them a voice in the political process. ACORN hopes that expanding the electorate will result in more candidates who appeal to historically underrepresented voting populations.

In addition to collecting and submitting voter registration applications, ACORN and Project Vote followed up with county boards of elections to make sure people made it onto the voter rolls. Beginning in August, ACORN began requesting lists of rejected and pending applications from county election boards and notified applicants there was a problem with their registration in order to attempt to fix the problem before the registration deadline. Oct. 6 is the deadline for registering to vote in the upcoming presidential election in most states.

For more information, click the following links:

Background information on ACORN voter registration drives

Report on voter fraud by Lorraine C. Minnite, Ph.D.

Article in The Nation

Article in the Wall Street Journal

Article in the New York Times

State-by-state chart of ACORN voter registration