A Minnesota prosecutor on Wednesday charged conservative provocateur James O’Keefe and influencer Cam Higby with counts of illegal voting and identity theft after they deceptively showed up at polling places in August using the names of registered voters.
Hennepin County Prosecutor Mary Moriarty, who announced the charges at a news conference, accused the two men of entering polling places during voting in the state’s primary election on Aug. 11 and identifying themselves using the names of registered voters in those precincts without those voters’ knowledge or permission.
“Both men did not sign the oath that we all sign before we receive our ballot,” she said. “But Minnesota law clearly states that no individual shall intentionally misrepresent his or her identity when requesting a ballot.”
O’Keefe and Higby used a process under Minnesota law known as a guarantor. This allows people to vouch for other voters on Election Day. A registered voter who lives in the same constituency can vouch for up to eight voters, while staff members of accommodation establishments can vouch for their residents.
The two influencers disguised themselves and recorded themselves undercover using hidden cameras at polling locations. They posted videos capturing their interactions on social media in August. O’Keefe said in an article on
Moriarty said Wednesday that his office was alerted to their conduct by Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office.
After O’Keefe and Higby’s videos were made public in August, Simon said in a statement that their “apparent goal was to sow doubt about one or more Minnesota election laws that have been in place for more than fifty years. Instead, they revealed their ignorance of how those laws actually work – while putting themselves in legal jeopardy.”
“The misconduct of this group is scandalous and completely unacceptable,” Simon added. “We have zero tolerance for lies, lawbreaking and disruption at our polling stations. »
Police interviewed registered voters whose names were used by O’Keefe and Higby, said Moriarty, who added that they also used the names of deceased voters. When asked where they got these names, Moriarty replied, “We don’t know. »
Moriarty said they are not in jail and instead will be issued a summons to Minnesota for a court appearance.
Neither O’Keefe nor Higby immediately responded to requests for comment.
These tactics from the two conservative influencers come as President Donald Trump has claimed for years that Democrats committed voter fraud or rigged elections against him. As part of its efforts to crack down and prevent suspected voter fraud, the Trump administration has targeted Democratic-controlled states by attempting to obtain state voter rolls and identify suspected non-citizen voters.
O’Keefe has previously been implicated in other incidents related to voter fraud. 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 about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. O’Keefe was removed as head of Project Veritas in 2023.
Higby formerly worked as a journalist for conservative media outlets and now runs a YouTube account with 285,000 subscribers.
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