Activists Face Felony Charges over Voting Stunt
Conservative activists James O’Keefe and Cam Higby were charged Wednesday with unlawful voting and identity theft after Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced the felony charges at a news conference. The charges stem from an August 11 primary election incident where the men gave false names to poll workers while recording the exchanges for a video designed to expose vulnerabilities in Minnesota election laws.
The case centers on Minnesota’s “vouching” process, a mechanism allowing registered voters to sign an oath attesting to the second person’s identity and that they live in the precinct. According to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office website, the process is rarely utilized, accounting for fewer than 0.6% of votes cast during the November 2024 election. Investigators state that O’Keefe, 42, of West Palm Beach, Florida, and Higby, 26, of Covington, Washington, donned costumes and used the names of actual registered voters to initiate this verification procedure.
Dressed in Disguise and Flagged by Poll Workers
In a video posted to YouTube on August 13, the activists appeared wearing costumes similar to attire worn by some Muslims and used fake accents while visiting multiple Minneapolis voting sites. During these interactions, Higby’s face was covered, and O’Keefe referred to him as his wife to election clerks.
Poll workers noticed the “strange behavior” and flagged it to election officials, who subsequently requested a police investigation. Moriarty stated during her news conference that the situation demonstrated how the system for identifying misconduct and responding to it functioned well during the primary. Although the men stopped short of signing the oath required for vouching, prosecutors maintained that giving false names and starting the process justified the felony charges.
Free and fair elections are the bedrock of democracy, and their protection is one of our highest priorities,
Moriarty said.
O’Keefe Defends Actions as Investigative Journalism
O’Keefe defended the actions in a statement and video released Wednesday evening, asserting that he and Higby acted as investigative journalists with no intention of completing the voucher process. He argued that they were careful to say the name is
instead of my name is
when speaking with poll workers.
In our report, we clearly stopped and walked out of the polling places to avoid even touching a voting ballot,
O’Keefe wrote, adding that they were merely posing hypotheticals to test election clerks. His organization, the O’Keefe Media Group, released a statement describing the stunt as an intentionally extreme scenario designed to expose what they see as the lunacy of the state’s “vouching” system.
As the legal proceedings advance, neither man has had an opportunity to enter a plea in court. Higby did not immediately respond to emails requesting comment and did not have an attorney listed in court records.
