{"id":7895,"date":"2026-10-30T09:21:47","date_gmt":"2026-10-30T09:21:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=7895"},"modified":"2026-10-30T09:21:47","modified_gmt":"2026-10-30T09:21:47","slug":"james-okeefe-charged-with-identity-theft-over-fake-names-given-to-minnesota-poll-workers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vaultinsider.top\/?p=7895","title":{"rendered":"James O\u2019Keefe charged with identity theft over fake names given to Minnesota poll workers"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/img-assets\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/GettyImages-2286240631-e1793332938248.jpg?w=2048\" \/><\/p>\n<p>Conservative activists James O\u2019Keefe 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\u2019s primary election. The men recorded the exchanges for a video to expose what they say are vulnerabilities in the state\u2019s voting laws.<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced the felony charges at a news conference. She said O\u2019Keefe, 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 \u201cvouching\u201d 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 \u201cvouches\u201d for them.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Poll workers were suspicious and reported their behavior. Moriarty said the situation shows that \u201cthe system for identifying misconduct and responding to it functioned well during the primary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Keefe, 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.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In a video and a written statement released Wednesday evening, O\u2019Keefe 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 \u201cthe name is\u201d rather than \u201cmy name is\u201d when giving names to poll workers.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cIn our report, we clearly stopped and walked out of the polling places to avoid even touching a voting ballot,\u201d O\u2019Keefe wrote. He later continued, \u201cWe didn\u2019t apply for a ballot; we were there talking to election clerks, posing hypotheticals and getting answers so that Americans could know what was happening in the elections.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Higby did not immediately respond to an email requesting comment and did not have an attorney in court records. Neither of them has had an opportunity to enter a plea.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Minnesota allows registered voters to \u201cvouch\u201d for another voter in the same precinct by signing an oath attesting to the second person\u2019s identity and that they live in the precinct. The person being vouched for also must verify their identity and eligibility by providing their Minnesota driver\u2019s license or identification card number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The process is rarely used but is most commonly done by older adults who have not updated their address on a driver\u2019s license because they no longer drive. In the November 2024 election, fewer than 0.6% of votes cast used the process, according to the Minnesota Secretary of State\u2019s office website.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Workers flag \u2018strange behavior\u2019<\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In their video that was posted to YouTube on Aug. 13, O\u2019Keefe, Higby and others dressed in costumes similar to attire worn by some Muslims and used fake accents while asking about the vouching process at multiple Minneapolis voting sites. Higby\u2019s face was covered, and when talking to poll workers, O\u2019Keefe referred to him as his wife.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moriarty said both men \u201cidentified themselves using names of registered voters in the precinct without those voters\u2019 knowledge or permission.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Moriarty said the poll workers noticed the \u201cstrange behavior\u201d and flagged it to election officials, who asked police to investigate. The men stopped short of signing the oath required for vouching, but Moriarty said that giving false names and starting the process was enough to justify the felony charges.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cFree and fair elections are the bedrock of democracy, and their protection is one of our highest priorities,\u201d Moriarty said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">O\u2019Keefe\u2019s organization, O\u2019Keefe Media Group, posted a statement and the video on its website and said the men presented \u201can intentionally extreme scenario to expose what they see as the lunacy of the state\u2019s \u2018vouching\u2019 system.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe team wanted to determine how election workers would respond, what safeguards they would describe, and how far they would allow the vouching process to proceed,\u201d the statement said. \u201cNot every election worker reacted the same way. While several workers explained how the undercover team could proceed under the vouching rules, others became suspicious of the group and took issue with the investigation. Some workers communicated concerns about the team over their radios.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">David Becker, a former Justice Department official and the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said he wasn\u2019t aware of any examples of vouching leading to organized or widespread fraud. But he said there have been more efforts recently by those pushing voter fraud claims to commit questionable acts themselves.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cImpersonating another voter is a very serious crime,\u201d Becker said.<\/p>\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Voter ID laws vary<\/h4>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Voter identification laws vary from state to state. Thirty-six states have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, but that identification can range from a photo ID to things like a utility bill or bank statement.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the remaining 14 states and Washington, D.C., voters can cast a ballot without showing ID. They must verify their identity in various other ways, like signing an affidavit or providing personal information like birth date, name or address.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Some states, like Minnesota, allow election officials or other registered voters to vouch for people without a current ID. Alaska and New Hampshire, for instance, allow officials like a clerk or a supervisor to verify a voter\u2019s identity if they know the voter personally. North Dakota allows people who lack identification cards because of a disability to have an attester certify that they are a qualified voter. West Virginia allows an adult who has known a voter for at least six months to sign a sworn statement verifying the voter\u2019s identity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">___ Boone reported from Boise, Idaho. Associated Press writer Ali Swenson contributed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>#James #OKeefe #charged #identity #theft #fake #names #Minnesota #poll #workers<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conservative activists James O&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7864,1018,662,415,982,721,210,10883,8438,2563,530],"class_list":["post-7895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","tag-charged","tag-elections","tag-fake","tag-identity","tag-james","tag-minnesota","tag-names","tag-okeefe","tag-poll","tag-theft","tag-workers"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>James O\u2019Keefe charged with identity theft over fake names given to Minnesota poll workers - 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