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Voter ID Sting Video Prompts Investigation

The District of Columbia Board of Elections opened an investigation after an undercover video posted online showed an activist against voter fraud going into a Washington polling station and beginning the process to vote under the name of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

The District of Columbia Board of Elections opened an investigation Tuesday after an undercover video posted online showed an activist against voter fraud going into a Washington polling station and beginning the process to vote under the name of U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder.

The elections board said evidence of potential criminal activity during last week's city primary will be referred to law enforcement. In announcing the investigation, board members said the voting booth is "sacrosanct" and isn't the place to debate or try to influence policy questions, such as voter identification laws. The board said it is investigating multiple incidents that occurred April 3.

The investigation stems from an undercover video posted online by activist James O'Keefe's Project Veritas. The group also has made undercover videos targeting Medicaid, NPR and community organizing group ACORN.

In the latest video, an unidentified O'Keefe associate appears to attempt to vote as Holder at a Washington polling station. The city doesn't require IDs to vote, so the poll worker verifies the name spelling and address before offering a ballot. Then the activist insists on leaving to get an ID.

The board said the incident on video was fraud but acknowledges it's not clear whether the actions could lead to prosecution.

O'Keefe said his group did not misrepresent themselves. Rather, they only asked poll workers "Do you have an Eric Holder?"

"The poll workers within the District of Columbia created problems of election integrity by following procedure set forth by the D.C. Board of Elections. Therein lies the problem," he said. "The voting procedures within our nation's capital then allowed for a ballot to be offered without verification."

O'Keefe said a similar project in New Hampshire led the state senate to pass a voter ID bill. O'Keefe's group plans to release additional videos made during last week's primary in the nation's capital.

Copyright 2012 The Associated Press.

Caroline Cournoyer is GOVERNING's senior web editor.
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