Politics & Government

Petitions Delivered to AG Target O'Keefe, Voter Fraud

Pressure is on for NH AG to investigate 'Project Veritas' leader and undercover video shoot.

A coalition of organizations is urging the state Attorney General to investigate right-wing activist James O'Keefe, saying his undercover footage shot during the January Primary at various polling sites violates state and federal election law.

People For the American Way, Daily Kos and Granite State Progress on Thursday delivered 109,931 petitions to New Hampshire Attorney General Michael Delaney urging him to investigate O'Keefe on voter fraud charges.

O'Keefe, who heads Project Veritas, sent undercover operatives to polls in Nashua, and other towns who secretly filmed themselves requesting ballots under the names of recently deceased voters.

Find out what's happening in Nashuawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The video is posted on the group's website under the heading "Primary of the Living Dead" [and also posted here.]

While O’Keefe's point was to convince Americans that voter fraud is a problem, these groups believe he may have committed fraud himself, and their allegations are backed up by several state election officials, including Nashua City Clerk Paul Bergeron, who said when the filmmakers crossed state lines to request ballots belonging to someone else, and record the undercover video, they broke the law.

Find out what's happening in Nashuawith free, real-time updates from Patch.

"It's against the law to steal, so if you go out and steal and then put up a video and say, 'Look, I stole something,' that's a crime. What these people did was a crime; they stole a person's identity and used it to try to obtain a ballot that would be used in a state election," Bergeron told Nashua Patch in January.

O’Keefe is not deterred, and recently told the Concord Monitor he plans to conduct similar operations in other states.

The petitions urge Delaney and U.S. Attorney John Kacavas to thoroughly investigate O’Keefe and enforce the state and federal laws that prevent and punish voter fraud while allowing eligible Americans to cast their ballots.

“Right-wing activists like James O’Keefe desperately want to convince American voters that widespread voter fraud threatens our elections, just so that they can pass restrictive laws that keep eligible Americans from casting ballots,” said Diallo Brooks, Field Director at People For the American Way.

“James O’Keefe’s New Hampshire stunt disproved the very point he was trying to make. There are already rigorous state and federal laws in place that prevent and punish fraud at the polls – fraud like that allegedly committed by O’Keefe and his supporters. Attorney General Delaney and U.S. Attorney Kacavas should show the people of New Hampshire that they are serious about combatting voter fraud, and investigate O’Keefe and enforce the voter protection laws that are on the books,” Brooks said.


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