Minnesota charges two activists over primary election voter impersonation

Minnesota prosecutors charged James O’Keefe and Cam Higby with felony unlawful voting and identity theft Wednesday after the two filmed themselves giving election workers other voters’ names during the state’s Aug. 11 primary. Prosecutors said neither man had permission to use the names, and neither signed the oath required to receive a ballot.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the men visited polling places in the county and identified themselves as registered voters in those precincts. They recorded the encounters with hidden cameras and posted videos online. Her office was alerted to their conduct by Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon’s office, Moriarty said.

“Both men stopped short of signing the oath we all sign before receiving our ballot,” Moriarty said at a news conference. “But Minnesota law states clearly that no individual shall intentionally misrepresent their identity in applying for a ballot.” CBS News Minnesota reported in August that the group did not go ahead with voting illegally.

O’Keefe and Higby said they were testing Minnesota’s voter-vouching law, which allows a registered voter in the same precinct to confirm that another person lives where they say they do. A registered voter may vouch for up to eight voters; residential-facility staff members may vouch for residents. The law does not permit someone to impersonate a registered voter.

The activists, who call themselves the Citizen Justice League, wore disguises and used fake accents in the videos, CBS News reported. O’Keefe said on X that they dressed in “Muslim garb,” including a niqab, or full-face veil, for one participant. He said their goal was to “expose the sheer lunacy of Minnesota’s ‘vouching’ system.”

In one video, O’Keefe gave election officials the name William Pomeranz. The real Pomeranz told CBS News Minnesota that a student alerted him to the online video. “That was pretty much a shock,” he said. Pomeranz said he was able to vote that evening without a problem and praised poll workers for reporting the incident. “The voting process, in my mind, worked,” he said.

According to NBC News, Moriarty said police interviewed registered voters whose names the men used and that the men also used names of deceased voters. Asked where they obtained the names, she said, “We don’t know that.” Moriarty said the men were not in jail and would receive summonses to appear in Minnesota. A court date was not announced.

Simon said in August that the videos showed the activists misunderstood a voting law that had been in force for more than 50 years. “As I read the law, you can’t impersonate another registered voter, and that’s exactly what they appear to have filmed themselves doing,” he said. O’Keefe and Higby did not immediately respond to NBC News requests for comment.