Felony Charges Filed Over Polling Place Visits in Minneapolis

Two conservative media figures face felony charges in Minnesota after prosecutors say they walked into Minneapolis-area polling places during the August primary, gave the names of registered voters, and filmed the encounters with hidden cameras. Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced the counts on Wednesday against James O'Keefe and Cam Higby, covering unlawful voting and identity theft.

Moriarty said the men entered polling places on Aug. 11 and supplied names of voters registered in those precincts. Her office reviewed the matter after the Secretary of State's office flagged the conduct, and police later interviewed the voters whose names were used. Moriarty said the names of deceased voters also appeared in the matter. Asked how the men obtained the names, she said, "We don't know that."

The two men did not complete the voter oath that precedes ballot access. "Both men stopped short of signing the oath we all sign before receiving our ballot," Morierty said at a news conference. "But Minnesota law states clearly that no individual shall intentionally misrepresent their identity in applying for a ballot." O'Keefe and Higby are not in jail and will receive summonses to appear in court in Minnesota.

The visits relied on Minnesota's vouching process, which allows a registered voter in a precinct to vouch for as many as eight other voters on Election Day, and lets staff at residential facilities vouch for their residents. O'Keefe and Higby filmed inside the polling places, posted the footage to social media in August, and wore disguises including a full-face veil called a niqab. In a post on X, O'Keefe wrote that their aim was to "expose the sheer lunacy of Minnesota's 'vouching' system."

Secretary of State Steve Simon said in a statement that the men's "apparent goal was to cast doubt on one or more Minnesota election laws that have been in force for over fifty years." He said they instead "revealed their ignorance of how those laws actually work" while exposing themselves to legal trouble. "We have zero tolerance for lying, lawbreaking, and disruptions at our polling places," Simon added. Neither O'Keefe nor Higby responded immediately to requests for comment.

O'Keefe founded Project Veritas and was removed as its head in 2023. In 2024, he and the group settled a lawsuit brought by a Pennsylvania postmaster after Project Veritas promoted a postal worker's false claims about voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election. Higby previously worked as a journalist for conservative outlets and runs a YouTube account with 285,000 subscribers. President Donald Trump has for years alleged that Democrats commit voter fraud or rig elections against him, and his administration has sought voter roll lists from Democratic-controlled states while trying to identify alleged noncitizen voters.

Moriarty's office brought the case as questions about election procedures have drawn attention from federal officials. The charges concern conduct at polling places on Aug. 11, and the men are scheduled to appear in Minnesota court.