ACORN, the organization at the center of an election-year controversy, overstated earlier this month how many new voters it had registered nationwide, the New York Times is reporting.

The group enthusiastically claimed Oct. 6 that it had signed up 1.3 million new voters nationwide, when, in fact, the number is more accurately around 450,000, the paper reports.

The remaining 800,000 registration forms that did not lead to new voters fell into several categories, from people who were just changing their addresses, duplicate registrations, incomplete forms and “fraudulent submissions from low-paid field workers trying to please their supervisors,” the paper reported.

The revelation adds new fuel to the election-year controversy over ACORN, which the GOP here in New Mexico and elsewhere across the country has charged is trying to tilt the election. Democrats and ACORN officials have accused the GOP of trying to stoke a controversy that isn’t there to cover voter suppression efforts.

The issue of voter registration, particularly involving ACORN, over the past few weeks “has become a flash point in the campaign when the flood of new voter registrations prompted complaints from election officials about the high number of improper submissions. State and local officials have begun investigations into possible fraudulent activity in at least 10 states.”

Here in New Mexico, that back and forth between the GOP and ACORN and its Democratic allies, has reached white-hot levels, leading to competing press conferences. The GOP has charged ACORN with voter registration fraud only to be met by accusations by ACORN and voters of voter intimidation by a private investigator said to be linked to a law firm of a prominent GOP attorney.

The Times story, and ACORN’s revision of its new voter registration number, likely will add more fuel to the fire.

Nationally, the Times reports, ACORN provided a breakdown of those voter registration forms that did not lead to new voters as officials originally claimed. It appears the fraudulent forms were a small part of the total number.

According to the paper:

Most of the registrations that were rejected were duplicate forms, followed by incomplete forms. The Acorn officials said their investigation found about 9,000 voter registration cards that were determined to be fraudulent. A lawyer for the group estimated that perhaps 5,000 to 6,000 more cards employees turned in were fraudulent. Acorn officials said that 20 percent to 25 percent of the applications it submitted were likely duplicates, 5 percent were incomplete, and 1 percent to 1.5 percent were fraudulent. Mr. Slater said the estimates were based on past registration drives and a sampling of this one.

Acorn officials said they were unable to provide a state-by-state breakdown identifying where the fraudulent voter registrations were submitted, but a spokesman said that at least some bogus cards cropped up in all 18 states where the group had major registration drives. Acorn conducted smaller drives in three other states.