A woman posing as an illegal immigrant was apparently encouraged to vote by North Carolina campaign operatives despite her purported non-citizen status.
The interaction was captured on the latest hidden camera sting from controversial muckraker James O’Keefe and the Project Veritas crew who have increasingly focused their sights on voter fraud in the runup to Tuesday’s midterm elections, balloting for which has already been ongoing in several states that permit early voting.
It is, of course, against the law for non-citizens to vote in U.S. elections or to assist them in wrongfully voting.
Evidently, as a result of the video’s release, the campaign manager for the Democrat running for Mecklenburg County (N.C.) sheriff has stepped down, and the state’s Board of Elections has launched an investigation into possible election law violations. As part of the probe, the board has asked O’Keefe to turn over the full unedited video.
Prior to this incident, a North Carolina Board of Elections audit flagged 1,425 registered voters who are likely non-citizens.
Late last month, a separate Project Veritas video prompted Greenpeace to fire a staffer who appeared to be encouraging voter fraud in Colorado’s U.S. Senate election, which is being conducted 100 percent by mail-in ballots. A worker for a separate organization captured on the video seemed to describe the prospects of vote fraud as “cool” and “awesome.”
According to the The Charlotte Observer , “Greg Amick, [Irwin] Carmichael’s campaign manager, stepped down Friday after being videotaped allegedly telling an actress who expressed concern about her alleged legal status, that she shouldn’t have any problem voting. ‘As long as you’re registered to vote, you’ll be fine,’ said Amick, according to the video.”
In the footage, OKeefe’s undercover operative claims she has a driver’s license and her name appears on the voter list, but admits that she is nonetheless illegal.
Under the Motor Voter law pushed through during the Clinton administration, driver’s license applicants (which includes non-citizens in some states) can register to vote at the DMV.
As always, watch the video embedded below and draw your own conclusions.
A study by two Old Dominion University political science professors suggests, among other things, that it is possible that non-citizens voting illegally were responsible for Barack Obama’s victory over Mitt Romney in North Carolina in the 2012 presidential election, adding that non-citizens “tend to favor Democrats.”
Continued the Observer :
“In Charlotte last week, campaign workers in local races said they were approached by a man and a woman at early voting sites, including the Sugar Creek Branch Library and University City Regional Library. The woman claimed to be an undocumented Brazilian immigrant who had a driver’s license and received a voting registration card by mistake. She claimed to know she wasn’t supposed to vote but wanted to support U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, the Greensboro Democrat who is in a tight race against Republican challenger Thom Tillis. Several of the Mecklenburg campaign workers and volunteers appear to tell her that she should vote.”
Amick has insisted that the Project Veritas video was selectively edited to be misleading, WBTV reported . O’Keefe replied that his group stands by the video.
Commenting on the implications of the North Carolina video and the country’s lax voting procedures in general, National Review opined,
“To demand compliance with our laws — all of our laws — requires no more of an alien than we demand of any citizen. It is a violation of both state and federal law for immigrants who are not citizens to vote. The violations effectively disenfranchise legitimate voters by diluting their votes. We can show respect for the rights of those within our borders and at the same time prevent people from violating our voting laws either through willful intent or because they were led astray by others.”
Whether it allegedly involves American citizens or illegal aliens, do you think voter fraud will be a major issue in the 2014 midterm election?
[top image via Ju1978 / Shutterstock.com ]