King County looks into claims of '06 voter-registration fraud

King County prosecutors are investigating apparent voter-registration fraud in the 2006 general election.

Dan Satterberg, chief deputy to King County Prosecutor Norm Maleng, confirmed late Thursday that attorneys from his office will meet next week to brief their federal counterparts regarding evidence that hundreds of voter-registration cards submitted in King County were forged.

Satterberg said "there are significant irregularities" among a batch of more than 1,800 voter-registration cards submitted to the county by canvassers for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN), a national group that represents the interests of low- and moderate-income citizens.

County prosecutors, aided by King County sheriff's investigators, have been looking into the allegations of forgery since an election official noticed that hundreds of the cards submitted by ACORN canvassers appeared to be in the same handwriting. A King County election spokeswoman publicly noted the potential fraud in February.

ACORN has come under scrutiny in several other states for alleged voter-registration irregularities. Four ACORN canvassers were indicted by a federal grand jury in Kansas City late last year. On March 6, ACORN submitted a letter to Maleng's office identifying three workers as suspects after an internal investigation indicated they "collected a substantial number of applications from two homeless shelters in Seattle.

"While I do not have the training in signature analysis, my review of the applications has led me to decide to refer these three employees to your office to investigate them for possible voter-registration fraud," wrote ACORN attorney Brian Mellor. ACORN is also considering suing the former workers, he said.

Controversy has plagued ACORN's 2006 voter-registration efforts in Seattle. The group submitted thousands of registration cards after a deadline in October. The King County Elections Office determined that the group had failed to submit new registration cards once a week as required by law. Some of the cards submitted Oct. 9 had been signed as early as Sept. 23.

ACORN claimed it signed up 5,388 voters in King and Pierce counties, part of a national effort to register a half-million new voters. None of the prospective voters registered by ACORN was allowed to vote in the November election because the nonprofit group sent the cards to the election office after the registration deadline.

Pierce County officials have said they found a number of ACORN registration cards missing information and that an unusual number of them seemed to list homeless shelters as an address.

Auditor Pat McCarthy said, however, that she did not recall seeing instances of similar handwriting.

A telephone message left with Pierce County Prosecutor Gerald Horne was not immediately returned Friday.

Staff reporter Keith Ervin contributed to this story.

Mike Carter: 206-464-3706 or mcarter@seattletimes.com