For those following the allegations of voter fraud purported in a new video from James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas, here’s a few more details.
The liberal blog Think Progress says it already refuted one of the claims of non-citizens voting. The blog uses a News & Observer article from 2008 that interviewed the voter in question, Zbigniew “Ziggy” Gorzkowski, to show he is a naturalized citizen. And later the blog refuted the second claim of non-citizen voting, too.
“Think Progress spoke with Gorzkowski this morning. He verified that this information was indeed correct and he had been an American citizen since the late 1980s. Therefore, his votes in the 2008 and 2010 elections were not only perfectly legal, but encouraged as a civic duty,” the blog states.
At the same time, O’Keefe issued a response to Gary Bartlett, executive director of the N.C. State Board of Elections, saying his undercover filmmakers who tried to impersonate voters did not commit a crime.
“It is unfortunate that the head of the elections board is prejudging the results of his investigation,” O’Keefe said by email. “Our elections process does rely upon honesty and transparency so investigations into whether our elections are being conducted properly can’t be harmful to the process – particularly ones that expose ballots being offered in the name of the dead or registered voters who refused jury service because they identified themselves as non-citizens.”
He continued: “We look forward the results of the election board investigation. We are confident with this, as every previous inquiry, it will be found we in no way committed a wrongdoing. We exposed wrongdoing including people who were offered ballots in the name of the dead, and other registered voters refused from jury service because, according to their official court documentation, are non-citizens.”
$50K proposed for victims
A House bill introduced Wednesday would offer $50,000 to people ordered sterilized under the authority of the state Eugenics Board.
The board authorized thousands of sterilizations from 1933 to 1974. Rep. Larry Womble, a Winston-Salem Democrat, has been working for years for victim compensation. House Speaker Thom Tillis took up the cause last year.
Under the bill, the state Industrial Commission would determine individuals’ eligibility. Eligible people would receive the $50,000 tax free.
An initial committee meeting on the bill is scheduled for Tuesday.
Obama team courts female vote
Two of the top officials in the Obama campaign were in Raleigh Monday raising money and organizing at events that targeted women.
Deputy campaign managers Julianna Smoot and Stephanie Cutter held a series of meetings and then held a major statewide grassroots event in the evening in downtown Raleigh.
Smoot, who is the Obama campaign’s chief fundraiser, is a native of Eastern North Carolina and a veteran of several Tar Heel campaigns.
Meanwhile, the presidential campaign in North Carolina is a dead heat, according to a new survey.
President Barack Obama leads Mitt Romney by a statistically insignificant margin of 48-47 percent, according to a survey released Wednesday by Public Policy Polling, a Raleigh based firmed with Democratic leanings.
The survey showed upward movement for Romney from a month ago, when PPP found Obama with a 5-point lead over Romney. But the polling firm noted that during the past 19 months, that was the only poll that showed either Obama or Romney leading in North Carolina by more than 3 points.
John Frank, Rob Christensen
and Lynn Bonner
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