Blue State Graft Watch: One-Time Breitbart Protege Releases Video Alleging Voter Fraud in Green Mountain State

State officials in Vermont are calling for a criminal inquiry after conservative activist and one-time Andrew Breitbart protege James O'Keefe released a video purporting to show people walking in to Vermont precincts and voting under the name of deceased or nonexistent voters. Not surprisingly, state officials have called for a criminal probe stemming from the video- not surprisingly, the Democrat Secretary of State and Attorney General want O'Keefe to be the focus of the probe instead the ease with which the video's participants were able to voter under somebody else's name.

State elections officials are sharply criticizing an undercover video that surfaced Tuesday and purportedly shows individuals using the names of dead or living people in order to obtain ballots for Vermont elections, including this year’s presidential primary.

The video, released via the Breitbart.com website by conservative activist James O’Keefe, shows a series of exchanges at voting precincts where an individual identifies himself as a person whose name is on the voter checklist. The individual, however, is not asked to show identification to prove who he is before being given a ballot.

“You said who you are,” one local voting official tells the individual when asked why no identification had to be shown. “Your name is on there.”

At least seven people, six described in the video as “living” and one as “dead,” are named in the video as the people whom the individual is impersonating as he goes through the process of obtaining a ballot. It’s unclear where all the incidents took place, but two polling sites, in Essex and Winooski, are recognizable.

Secretary of State James Condos, who learned about the video from the Burlington Free Press, said Tuesday afternoon that he hopes the Attorney General’s Office will investigate the video to see whether a crime had taken place.

“My next phone call is to Bill Sorrell’s office,” Condos said, referring to the state’s top prosecutor. The crime of voter fraud is punishable in Vermont by a fine of up to $100 and/or up to one year in jail.

Condos said Vermont and federal law do not require people to produce identification when they show up to vote, and efforts to mandate such identification recently have been rejected or struck down in several states.

“I denounce any type of voter fraud or any assault on the integrity of the voting system,” Condos said. “Voting is a constitutional right and the basis of our democracy. Real voter fraud is preventing people eligible to vote from being able to vote.”

Actually- if I may interject for a moment, Secretary of State Condos- REAL voter fraud is elected officials doing something like systematically something like forging other people's signature on absentee ballots.

The release of O'Keefe's video comes one day after Eric Holder's Justice Department struck down a recently-passed Texas voter ID law on Monday.

O'Keefe filmed a similar video in New Hampshire earlier this year, prompting the State Senate to pass a voter ID law that was heading to the State House last week.