ACORN voter registration suit dismissed in Pa.

A federal judge in Pittsburgh has dismissed a lawsuit begun by ACORN that sought to overturn a state law used to prosecute voter registration groups who required canvassers to fulfill quotas.

ACORN has since disbanded, but an affiliated group, Project Vote, took over as plaintiff of the 2009 lawsuit defended by the Pennsylvania attorney general.

U.S. District Judge Nora Barry Fischer's ruling Wednesday wasn't a clear-cut win for either side.

Fischer refused to strike down the law as unconstitutional. But she also ruled it couldn't be used to prosecute groups who fired workers for failing to meet registration quotas, so long as those canvassers weren't paid per voter they registered.

The group sued after Allegheny County prosecutors charged several ACORN workers who later pleaded guilty to violating the election law.

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