Project Veritas founder James O’Keefe charged with identity theft over fake names given to Minnesota poll workers

Conservative activists James O’Keefe and Cam Higby were charged Wednesday with unlawful voting and identity theft after a Minnesota prosecutor said they gave false names to poll workers during the state’s primary election. The men recorded the exchanges for a video to expose what they say are vulnerabilities in the state’s voting laws.

Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced the felony charges at a news conference. She said O’Keefe, 42, of West Palm Beach, Florida, and Higby, 26, of Covington, Washington, wore costumes and used the names of registered state voters while starting the “vouching” process in the Aug. 11 primary. The process provides a way for voters who lack proof of their current address to register and vote in their new precinct on the same day after a voter already registered in that precinct “vouches” for them.

Poll workers were suspicious and reported their behavior. Moriarty said the situation shows that “the system for identifying misconduct and responding to it functioned well during the primary.”

O’Keefe, who founded and later was ousted as leader of Project Veritas, came to notoriety by publishing undercover sting-style videos like the one made at the Minnesota polling places.

In a video and a written statement released Wednesday evening, O’Keefe said he and Higby had been acting as investigative journalists and that they never intended to complete the voucher process. He also said they were careful to say “the name is” rather than “my name is” when giving names to poll workers.

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