Undercover conservative news organization Project Veritas has uncovered an apparent scheme to harvest absentee ballots from vulnerable voters.
Ballot harvesting is where paid workers illegally gather absentee ballots from unsuspecting voters.
In a Snapchat video, the brother of Minneapolis city council member Jamal Osman, says “Just today we got 300 for Jamal Osman. I have 300 ballots in my car right now. Numbers don’t lie. You can see my car is full. All these here are absentee ballots. . . . Look, all these are for Jamal Osman. Money is the king in this world . . . and a campaign is driven by money.”
James O’Keefe, founder and CEO of Project Veritas says “Our investigation into this ballot harvesting ring demonstrates clearly how these unscrupulous operators exploit the elderly and immigrant communities”
During the video investigation, whistleblower Omar Jamal, a Minneapolis community leader and chair of the city’s Somali Watchdog Group, says that U.S. Congresswoman Ilhan Omar is also sending people out to harvest ballots. "It’s an open secret. She will do anything that she can do to get elected and she has hundreds of people like Jamal on the streets doing that for her.
An anonymous Minneapolis-based political worker tells Veritas that Omar workers went through an elderly retirement building called the Charles Horn Towers for the Aug 8th primary. They went door to door and asked every resident to give them their ballots that had been mailed to them. Most of them had not requested ballots be mailed to them but Omar's campaign had. "Campaign deputy district director Ali (Isse) Gainey, was coordinating everything. Once the person presents the ballot they are told where to mark.
They have perfected this system,” she said. “They will tell you we are applying for your ballot. They take a picture of your social security and your driver’s license. They then request a ballot using this info. Now they have a database. When the ballot comes, they track it. Cash, cash, cash. They were carrying bags of money. . . . When you vote for the candidates that they instruct, they mark you off, then you get in the van, they give you the cash.”
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