2007 Washington – Criminal Conviction – Clifton Eugene Mitchell
ACORN workers in Seattle committed what the Secretary of State labeled as the worst case of voter registration fraud in Washington’s history. When ACORN’s national office threatened to shut down the group’s local office, Clifton Mitchell and his team began using fake names, addresses, birthdays, and social security numbers in order to meet their voter registration quotas. In a candid interview with CNN following his conviction, Clifton relayed how he and his fellow ACORN co-workers would take addresses from homeless shelters or use baby books and phone books to generate fake information. In total, the group submitted 1,762 fraudulent voter registration forms. Mitchell was convicted of false registrations and served nearly three months in jail. Four other ACORN workers on his team also received jail time. Additionally, prosecutors ordered ACORN to increase its oversight under threat of prosecution and fined the organization $25,000 to cover the cost of the investigation.