Obama campaign: Republicans are trying to intimidate and suppress the vote

Leaders in the Barack Obama campaign held a conference call to discuss their voter registration, voter education, voter turnout and voter protection strategies. Obama For America (OFA) Campaign manager David Plouffe discussed that the Obama campaign was engaged in a voter drive to get as many citizens registered and out to the polls as possible.

OFA General Counsel Bob Bauer discussed how the Republican party was attempting to undercut the effort and discourage voting. He explained that in the past few election cycles, Republicans have made many accusations of voter fraud, but later had to admit that there was no basis for their challenges. He criticized the GOP for engaging in the same practices during this election in order to try to intimidate and suppress voters.

Bauer was also critical of the attacks that John McCain had made about Obama’s association with ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, which has been the subject of many accusations of voter fraud. Bauer called most of the accusations incorrect or baseless, including one claim made by the Republicans that the Obama campaign had given $800,000 to ACORN to aid its voter registration drive. “It’s a lie,” said Bauer, “and the repetition of the lie won’t make it true…We have never paid ACORN a penny for registration purposes.”