James O’Keefe has done it again. The undercover journalism pioneer released bombshell footage this week exposing what appears to be widespread election fraud on the streets of Los Angeles, where homeless individuals on Skid Row were caught on camera being paid to forge signatures on ballot petitions. The video, part two of O’Keefe’s “Cash for Ballots” series, shows petition circulators handing homeless people $2 to $3 per form while instructing them to sign using the names and addresses of real registered voters.
The scheme works like this: petition circulators, who earn between $7 and $10 per signature according to O’Keefe’s earlier reporting, provide printed lists of actual voters to homeless individuals. They assign identities, direct exactly what to write, and monitor the signers to ensure the information matches. The homeless get a few bucks, the circulators get paid, and the integrity of California’s election process gets shredded. Is this what democracy looks like in the Golden State?
O’Keefe and his team didn’t stop at filming the fraud. They visited the addresses tied to the voter names being used, and what they found should outrage every American who believes in free and fair elections. One resident told them that the named voter hadn’t lived at the address for nearly a decade, yet election mail was still being delivered there. “Doesn’t live here, uh I bought this house nearly 9 years ago,” the resident explained. “The only reason I know that name, is because we still get her mail.” The resident added that receiving fraudulent voting ballots made them feel “really weird” because, as they put it, “obviously that’s fraudulent.”
The White House responded swiftly to O’Keefe’s exposé, issuing a statement that “The Trump Administration will always take seriously any allegation that the law has been broken and is grateful for intrepid reporters working hard to bring attention to these issues.” It’s a refreshing change from previous administrations that dismissed election integrity concerns as conspiracy theories while evidence of problems mounted.
This latest video follows O’Keefe’s first installment released last week, which showed California NGOs encouraging homeless people to use fake addresses like “Pinocchio Lane” when registering to vote and signing petitions. Between the two releases, O’Keefe’s team has documented 28 instances of cash changing hands for ballot signatures and voter registration forms. In a state where ballot harvesting is legal and signature verification has been loosened repeatedly by Democratic lawmakers, these revelations raise serious questions about just how secure California’s elections really are.
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