Undercover investigative journalist James O’Keefe, who originally created the organization Project Veritas, published a video that shined a spotlight on poll workers in Alaska offering him a ballot while using the name of Sen. Lisa Murkowski’s brother without requiring him to supply ID proving his identity. O’Keefe, who now runs O’Keefe Media Group (OMG), paid a visit to an Anchorage polling place during Alaska’s primary election and told those working the polls that his name was Brian Murkowski.
A worker looked up the name and found it on the voter list, and then confirmed he was at the right place to cast a ballot. O’Keefe told the worker that he left his ID at home and asked if he could still vote. A worker then told him, “Absolutely possible.” Another worker told him that he could vote without presenting any identification.
“You can vote if you’d like to,” the worker stated. Of course, O’Keefe did not cast the ballot. He revealed that Murkowski’s brother, Brian, no longer lives in Alaska, but is still on the state’s voter rolls. The undercover journalist’s team repeated the experiment using the name of Karina Waller, Murkowski’s state director. At another polling place in Anchorage, a woman gave a poll worker Waller’s name and said she did not have ID.
According to a report from Breitbart News, the worker confirmed the name was registered at that location and then offered her a ballot. Before publishing the video, Murkowski’s office told O’Keefe’s team that the senator has been consistent in backing a photo identification requirement in order to vote, but is staunchly against the SAVE America Act. Joe Plesha, Murkowski’s press secretary, gave a statement to the organization.
“Murkowski has consistently supported the requirement of photo ID to vote. And earlier this month, she voted in favor of a separate measure on the Senate floor to do just that. However, the SAVE America Act is an overly burdensome, one size fits all mandate from Washington. It would be impossible to implement in time for this election and would likely disenfranchise thousands of eligible Alaskan voters. In any case, voter impersonation is a crime and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law,” Plesha told OMG.
Murkowski has been against the SAVE America Act for quite a while. In March 2026, she opposed the Senate even having a debate over the bill, despite the chamber voting 51-48 in favor of moving it forward. The Alaska senator continued to voice her opposition to the bill in July 2026, saying it could disenfranchise voters in remote Alaska communities and would be impossible to implement before November’s elections.
The SAVE America Act is a piece of legislation that seeks to protect the integrity of the American election system by requiring that all individuals seeking to register to vote to supply proof of citizenship. Two accepted forms of identification are a birth certificate or a passport. The bill also requires a person to present a photo ID while voting at the polls to confirm their identity.
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Murkowski has stated on numerous occasions that she backs voter ID at the polls, but believes the SAVE America Act would disenfranchise voters and discourage them from participating in the democratic process. Her stance on the issue has placed her under heavy scrutiny and led to her being referred to as a Republican in Name Only or RINO.
Featured Image: screenshot from embedded video