James O’Keefe and Cam Higby arrived at a Minnesota polling place during the 11 August primary wearing costumes similar to attire worn by some Muslims and speaking in fake accents. Higby’s face was covered, and O’Keefe described him to poll workers as his wife.
The pair, along with others, had planned the episode as a test of Minnesota’s vouching process. They used the names of registered state voters while beginning that process, which lets registered voters vouch for unregistered people so they can cast ballots.
Poll workers noticed what was described as “strange behavior” and alerted election officials. O’Keefe and Higby did not sign the oath required to complete vouching.
They recorded the encounter and posted it to YouTube on 13 August. The video showed O’Keefe, Higby and others in costume using fake accents.
On Wednesday, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced felony charges of unlawful voting and identity theft against O’Keefe, 42, of West Palm Beach, Florida, and Higby, 26, of Covington, Washington.
Moriarty said the episode showed that “the system for identifying misconduct and responding to it functioned well during the primary.”
O’Keefe founded Project Veritas and was later ousted as its leader. He is now operating O’Keefe Media Group.
O’Keefe Media Group said the men had presented “an intentionally extreme scenario to expose what they see as the lunacy of the state's "vouching" system.”
Vouching was used in fewer than 0.6% of votes cast in Minnesota’s November 2024 election, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State’s office.
Comments (0)