First posted on Instagram
Minnesota prosecutors have charged conservative activist James O'Keefe and fellow O'Keefe Media Group member Cam Higby with felonies over an undercover operation at Minneapolis polling places during the state's August primary election, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty announced on Wednesday.
The charges — identity theft and unlawful voting — stem from videos the pair posted online in August, in which members of the group, calling themselves the "Justice League," visited polling places to test Minnesota's voter-vouching law. In the footage, one member wore a burqa while another used an accent, and at Pratt Elementary School in Minneapolis a member gave a poll worker the first name "William" and, when asked for a last name, replied "Pomeranz" — the name of an actual registered Minneapolis voter — before asking about the state's vouching rules.
Under Minnesota law, a voter who has recently moved or lacks a document showing a current address can register on Election Day if another registered voter from the same precinct vouches for their address. The voucher must sign an affidavit, under penalty of perjury, that they personally know the person lives in the precinct, and the new voter must still provide a driver's licence or state ID number or the last four digits of their Social Security number.
O'Keefe's group denied wrongdoing, saying in a statement: "The Justice League did not impersonate anyone. At no point did we claim to be William Pomerantz or any other voter. We stated a name and asked election workers questions about Minnesota's vouching process." The group has said no ballots were cast or touched and no affidavits were signed during the operation, and that the group left the polling place after being told the man would need to sign an oath to vouch for someone.
Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon, who had called the stunt "outrageous" when the video went viral in August, said the group "revealed their ignorance of how those laws actually work — while putting themselves in legal jeopardy." Simon has noted that only 0.6 percent of Minnesota voters were vouched for in 2024 and that he has no record of vouching fraud during his tenure. The Trump administration had previously criticised the vouching law, with the Justice Department demanding Minnesota hand over records related to the system.
The case now turns on whether prosecutors can show the pair crossed the line from questioning election workers about the rules into impersonating a voter and unlawfully voting — the distinction at the heart of the group's denial.