Conservative influencer James O’Keefe charged with unlawful voting and identity theft in Minnesota

A Minnesota prosecutor charged conservative provocateur James O’Keefe and influencer Cam Higby on Wednesday with felony counts of unlawful voting and identity theft after they showed up at polling places in August using the names of registered voters. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty, who announced the charges at a news conference, accused the pair of entering polling places during state primary election voting on Aug. 11 and identifying themselves using the names of registered voters in those precincts without those voters’ knowledge or permission. “Both men stopped short of signing the oath we all sign before receiving our ballot,” she said. “But Minnesota law states clearly that no individual shall intentionally misrepresent their identity in applying for a ballot.” O’Keefe and Higby were using a process under Minnesota law known as vouching. It allows people to vouch for other voters on Election Day. A registered voter who lives in the same precinct can vouch for up to eight voters, while staff members of residential facilities can vouch for their residents. The pair of influencers disguised and recorded themselves going undercover using hidden cameras at the polling places. They posted videos capturing their interactions on social media in August. O’Keefe said on X that they dressed in “Muslim garb” — including, for one of them, a full-face veil known as a niqab — and that their goal was to “expose the sheer lunacy of Minnesota’s ‘vouching’ system.” Moriarty said Wednesday the office of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon alerted her office to their conduct. After O’Keefe and Higby’s videos became public in August, Simon said in a statement that their “apparent goal was to cast doubt on one or more Minnesota election laws that have been in force for over fifty years. Instead, they revealed their ignorance of how those laws actually work — while putting themselves in legal jeopardy.” “The misconduct by this group is outrageous and totally unacceptable,” Simon added. “We have zero tolerance for lying, lawbreaking, and disruptions at our polling places.” Police interviewed the registered voters whose names O’Keefe and Higby used, said Moriarty, who added that they also used the names of deceased voters. Asked where they obtained those names, Moriarty said, “We don’t know that.” Moriarty said that they are not in jail and that instead, they will be issued summonses to appear in court in Minnesota. Neither O’Keefe nor Higby immediately responded to requests for comment. President Donald Trump has alleged for years that Democrats have committed voter fraud or have rigged elections against him. As part of those efforts to crack down on and prevent purported voter fraud, the Trump administration has been targeting Democratic-controlled states by trying to obtain state voter roll lists and identifying alleged noncitizen voters. O’Keefe has been involved in other voter fraud-related incidents. In 2024, he and Project Veritas, which he founded, settled a lawsuit brought by a Pennsylvania postmaster after the group promoted a postal worker’s false claims of voter fraud during the 2020 presidential election. O’Keefe was removed as the head of Project Veritas in 2023. Higby was a journalist for conservative outlets and now operates a YouTube account with 285,000 subscribers.