FBI Opens Preliminary ACORN Probe

The FBI is investigating whether the community activist group ACORN helped foster voter registration fraud around the nation. A senior law enforcement official says the agency is looking at results of recent raids on ACORN offices in several states for any evidence of a coordinated national scam. The group denies such a conspiracy, though it has acknowledged that some employees—now fired—handed in falsified forms with names such as "Mickey Mouse."

ACORN, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, says it has registered 1.3 million young people, minorities, and poor and working-class voters for this year's election. Most tend to be Democrats, and Republicans, including John McCain, have blasted the group and criticized Barack Obama for his ties to it. At least 8 states are investigating. (More Acorn stories.)