Opinion

VOTE FRAUD: SEND IN THE FEDS

Meanwhile, Barack Obama‘s favorite band of “community organizers,” ACORN, has caught the attention of prosecutors in both Ohio and Indiana.

The bipartisan board of elections in Cuyahoga County, Ohio, voted unanimously Monday to ask the local DA to investigate multiple allegations of fraud – including the case, first reported by The Post, of Freddie Johnson, who admits he was paid by ACORN to register 72 times.

And Indiana’s top elections officer asked the state attorney general to investigate reports that ACORN submitted thousands of fraudulent registrations in the Indianapolis area.

Overall, at least a dozen states are looking into ACORN-submitted registrations. In Bridgeport, Conn., some 20 percent of the group’s submitted registrations have been deemed fraudulent; in Houston, it’s 40 percent.

Anything that widespread and systemic can’t be handled solely at the state level.

It’s time for the US Justice Department and federal prosecutors to get involved.

At a press conference yesterday, an ACORN official said, “Yes, we know there’s been fraud,” but blamed “some bad apples in the bunch.”

That’s ridiculous, of course.

It’s one thing to suggest, as ACORN does, that its canvassers can’t be expected to know whether a specific individual is already legally registered.

But when registrations start turning up everywhere with names like Mickey Mouse, Dick Tracy, Mary Poppins and Jive Turkey – not to mention the entire Dallas Cowboys starting lineup – it’s not hard to discern a pattern.

Clearly, ACORN has been trying to overwhelm local election boards with registrations so as to clog the system before Election Day – making it that much more difficult to root out fraud.

Which is why ACORN – whose affiliate got $800,000 from the Obama campaign for a get-out-the-vote effort – is so laid-back about fraud.

As ACORN national spokesman Scott Levenson told Fox News Channel’s Greta Van Susteren, when asked about the fraud: “Isn’t it more important that 1.3 million folks are excited about this election in ways they never were before?”

No, it isn’t.

Which is why the feds should move in.