Undercover reporter exposes possible voter registration fraud in NYC

Anthony Rubin of Muckraker

A New York City Board of Elections official was caught in hidden camera video suggesting that non-citizens sometimes register to vote in U.S. elections and went so far as to tell the undercover reporter posing as a Canadian citizen that he would submit his illegitimate voter registration application. 

The video comes as Republicans on Capitol Hill, with the backing of President Trump, are pushing for Congress to pass the SAVE Act, proposed legislation that would require voter ID at polling places in an effort to reduce the likelihood of voter fraud. The measure has passed in the House and it remains unclear if it will be brought to a vote in the Senate. Trump has signaled that if Congress doesn't act soon, he could issued an executive order requiring voter ID at polling sites.

Anthony Rubin -- no relation to Dave Rubin -- of Muckracker entered a Board of Elections office in lower Manhattan and explained to the worker he encountered that he was a green card holder from Canada who is "really against everything going on right now." The election worker initially is seen in the video explaining to Rubin that the form clearly states a registrant must be an American citizen, although no photo ID or other documentation is required to prove citizenship. 

However, after a couple minutes of cajoling, the election worker assured him, "We don't report anyone" who knowingly submits the voter registration without being a U.S. citizen, something that would be a violation of section 17-106 of New York State's election law, which states that workers who violate election law provisions, including the registration of voters, can be convicted of a felony. 

"Once in a while," the worker says at one point in the video, "we have people come in here ... and they register, they weren't a citizen."

Later in the video, Rubin reveals to the worker that he's an undercover reporter and questions him as to why it appeared he was prepared to accept a voter registration application from a non-U.S. citizen. He also asked the worker how commonplace non-citizen registration is at his office in NYC and whether he's concerned about voter integrity. The worker refuses to answer any of the questions. Watch the full 6-minute video below.