Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, a former secretary of state, joined his fellow Republicans Thursday by issuing a strong condemnation of ACORN, an advocacy group accused by its critics in Missouri and other swing states of submitting bogus voter registrations.

The Republican elections director in Jackson County said earlier this week that her office was sifting through several hundred suspect registrations submitted by some ACORN workers. ACORN’s regional director has disputed the assertion, saying that the group’s officials had singled out the suspect cards when all the registration cards were turned in, as required by law.

In a statement, the governor said, “Fraudulent registration is an assault on our election system and should not be tolerated, period. There can be only one reason why an organization like ACORN would consistently submit fraudulent registrations and that is to cheat the system by allowing people to cast fraudulent ballots.

“I am disappointed that at least one Missouri official so casually dismisses this unavoidable truth, trying without success to claim registration fraud and voter fraud are not one and the same,” the governor said, without mentioning the official in question. “Registration fraud has only one purpose and that is voter fraud.”

Blunt then added, “I am calling on all Missouri clerks, election directors and prosecutors to be alert and vigilant, responding immediately to any and all allegations of voter fraud. It is the responsibility of all political parties to carefully watch over our election process while recognizing that under no circumstance should anyone ever intimidate voters.”

ACORN Midwest director Jeff Ordower said in a telephone interview Thursday that ACORN collected 53,500 new voter registrations statewide. About 19,000 were in the Kansas City area, and the rest in the St. Louis region. (Nationwide, ACORN collected 1.3 million new registrations, he said.)

Ordower said that about 200 cards submitted to Jackson County, out of 5,000, appeared to be either duplicates, incomplete, or be questionable. He said that was discussed in a meeting with county election officials on Sept. 12.

He accused Republicans of raising questions now, just as they have done every election.

He also pointed to remarks delivered Wednesday by St. Louis Mayor Francis Slay, a Democrat, at a City Hall news conference lauding ACORN and other voter-registration groups, and the city Election Board.

“I have worked very hard with both Republicans and Democrats on the St. Louis Election Board to make sure that everyone who is eligible to vote can do so with the least amount of hassle,” Slay said. “Republican (elections director) Scott Leiendecker has done a very good job of improving the operations since the 2000 fiasco. I am hopeful they will be ready for the heavy turnout.

“Thousands of Missourians have signed up this year to vote. I want to acknowledge the hard work done by ACORN and Pro Vote to help people to register. According to our election authority, they did a good job.

“It is well known that I support Senator Obama. But, making sure every eligible voter can cast a ballot goes beyond partisanship….Don’t let anyone intimidate or threaten you. If you signed up to vote and are eligible to vote, do not let anyone take that right away from you. The future of our country is at stake in this election.”