Last updated on August 10th, 2014 at 05:28 pm
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) has been relatively quiet, until today when she bragged in a radio interview that she will be breaking the law by not participating in the census next year. Bachmann claimed that ACORN is involved in the census, and that are going to collect personal information to use to stuff ballot boxes.
Here is the audio courtesy of Think Progress:
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Bachmann said, “The motherload of all data information will be from the Census. … Unfortunately, the Census data has become very intricate, very personal, a lot of the questions that are asked. I know for my family, the only question we will be answering is how many people are in our home. We won’t be answering any information beyond that, because the Constitution doesn’t require any information beyond that.”
She also launched into her latest ACORN conspiracy, “This is what ACORN will do. They will get multiple fraudulent voter registration forms, stuff the registrar’s office with them, in hopes that maybe not all fraudulent registrations will find people at the polls voting. But there may be some people who get through. And sometimes you don’t often need many in order to sway an election one way or another. I come from Minnesota. We’re still in a recount with our U.S. Senate race between Sen. Norm Coleman and the challenger Al Franken. Sen. Coleman won the race on Election Day, but that was challenged repeatedly, over and over, with what we feel may be fraudulent vote [sic], and we’re very concerned about what comes forward.”
The problem with Bachmann’s conspiracy theory is that the 2010 form does not collect Social Security numbers, and a Social Security number is required to vote. The form asks for name, date of birth, relationship to the resident, race, and whether the residents reside elsewhere during the year. The government already has this information if you fill out a tax form.
ACORN will not be taking the Census, but the right wing is worried because the group might help recruit some of the 1.4 million census takers. This is another bizarre right wing conspiracy theory that has captured the imagination of the right wing. Maybe if Bachmann gets arrested the people in her district will stop voting for this loony tune, but I doubt it.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association
