ACORN Pleads Not Guilty in Nevada

UPI reports that "ACORN and its formal deputy regional director [Amy Busefink] have entered not guilty pleas to charges of violating Nevada's voter-registration laws."

The charges stem from ACORN's voter registration efforts in Las Vegas during the months leading up to the November General Election. (Please click here for the original Las Vegas Sun story on the arrests.) Similar to the ongoing investigation in Allegheny County, PA, ACORN incentivized their employees to register a certain quota of voters per shift. Those that didn't cross that threshold were terminated. There was an additional incentive scheme called "Blackjack" that would reward a canvasser who brought in 21 or more completed voter registration forms per shift with a $5.00 bonus.

Authorities in Las Vegas had been tipped off to ACORN's voter registration practices when the Clark County Registrar of Voters complained that their office had received large number of fraudulent forms. An investigation by a special task force ensued which ultimately led to a raid on ACORN's Las Vegas office last October. In August, one of the masterminds of the scheme agreed to a plea deal in exchange to testify against ACORN itself and ACORN's former regional field director Amy Busefink. Click here for the original complaint.