Guerrilla filmmaker James O’Keefe has prompted investigations into political operatives he caught on camera advising non-citizens they could vote. The North Carolina Board of Elections is looking into whether they broke state law.
Meanwhile, Greg Amick, the campaign manager for the Democratic candidate for sheriff in Charlotte, N.C., has left his position. Amick told an O’Keefe investigator that her non-citizen status was no problem: “As long as you’re registered to vote, you’ll be fine.”
Despite Amick being caught red-handed, the spokesman for sheriff candidate Irwin Carmichael tried to downplay the incident. “It is unfortunate that a social media virus has added noise and sometimes confusion to an election in our community,” Rob Brisley said in a statement.
Brisley’s description of attempts to encourage voters to cast ballots as a “social media virus” has given new meaning to the concept of political spin.
One of the action items for state legislatures around the country next year should be to follow the example of Kansas and Arizona, both of which have put in requirements that people registering to vote provide evidence that they are U.S. citizens.