James O’Keefe

Introduction

James O’Keefe is a 42-year-old conservative activist from West Palm Beach, Florida, who founded the undercover-video group Project Veritas and led it until he was ousted, and who now runs the O’Keefe Media Group . On October 28, 2026, Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty charged O’Keefe and fellow influencer Cam Higby, 26, with felony counts of unlawful voting and identity theft for a sting during Minnesota’s August 11 primary in which the pair gave poll workers the names of registered voters while filming the exchanges . Neither man is in custody; both were issued summonses for an initial court appearance on November 16 .

Background Information

O’Keefe came to notoriety publishing undercover sting-style videos, founded Project Veritas, and was later ousted as its leader — a ouster that preceded the launch of his own O’Keefe Media Group, which posted both the Minnesota video and a statement defending it . Higby, of Covington, Washington, has worked as a journalist for conservative outlets and now operates a YouTube account with 285,000 subscribers . Their target was Minnesota’s “vouching” process, which lets a registered voter in the same precinct vouch for up to eight unregistered voters who lack proof of a current address; fewer than 0.6% of November 2024 votes used it .

The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation

Charged with felonies; no plea yet. O’Keefe and Higby are charged with felony unlawful voting and identity theft for misrepresenting themselves with registered voters’ names — including, per prosecutors, the names of dead voters — during an undercover video stunt at Minneapolis polling places. They stopped short of casting ballots, were issued summonses, and have not entered pleas; no attorneys are on record for either man.

On August 11, 2026, O’Keefe, Higby and others visited multiple Minneapolis voting sites in costume — O’Keefe said on X that they wore “Muslim garb,” including a niqab for one team member — using fake accents and hidden cameras while asking poll workers about the vouching process; Higby’s face was covered, and O’Keefe referred to him as his wife . “Alright guys, it’s Election Day in Minneapolis. James O’Keefe and I are going to go around the city to different polling stations and we’re going to see if they’re going to allow us to vote without IDs,” Higby said in the video posted to YouTube two days later .

Moriarty said both men “identified themselves using names of registered voters in the precinct without those voters’ knowledge or permission,” and that the names they used included residents who were dead and at least one who had voted . Police interviewed the voters whose names were used; where the names came from, Moriarty said, “We don’t know that” . Poll workers flagged the “strange behavior” to election officials, who asked police to investigate, and the office of Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon alerted prosecutors; Moriarty announced the felony charges on October 28 .

The men stopped short of signing the vouching oath — a step Moriarty said would have been felony perjury — but she said giving false names and starting the process was enough: “Minnesota law states clearly that no individual shall intentionally misrepresent their identity in applying for a ballot,” and “you cannot give somebody else’s name and misrepresent yourself as you go through the process” . O’Keefe Media Group called the operation “an intentionally extreme scenario to expose what they see as the lunacy of the state’s ‘vouching’ system,” saying the team wanted to test how election workers would respond .

Public Reaction and Consequences

Moriarty framed the outcome as proof the safeguards work: poll workers’ suspicion and the officials’ response showed that “the system for identifying misconduct and responding to it functioned well during the primary,” she said, adding that “free and fair elections are the bedrock of democracy, and their protection is one of our highest priorities” . Simon, whose office was alerted in August, said the pair’s “apparent goal was to cast doubt on one or more Minnesota election laws that have been in force for over fifty years. Instead, they revealed their ignorance of how those laws actually work — while putting themselves in legal jeopardy,” and called the group’s conduct “outrageous and totally unacceptable” — “we have zero tolerance for lying, lawbreaking, and disruptions at our polling places” . David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation and Research said he knew of no examples of vouching producing organized fraud, but that “impersonating another voter is a very serious crime” .

Current Status

O’Keefe and Higby were charged October 28, 2026, with felony unlawful voting and identity theft; neither is in jail, and both were issued summonses to appear in Minnesota court, with an initial appearance set for November 16 . Neither has entered a plea, no attorney is named in court records for either man, and neither responded to interview requests before the charges were announced . The charges are unadjudicated.

Impact on Their Career/Life

For O’Keefe, the felony charges land midway through the second act he built after his Project Veritas ouster — the sting his own group framed as election-integrity reporting is now the case against its founder, with his media operation’s published video cited in the charging narrative . For Higby, a 285,000-subscriber channel now sits beside a felony identity-theft count in the same charges . And for the tactic itself, Minnesota officials’ answer was the one the stunt set out to test: the workers flagged it, the system “functioned well,” and the men testing it are the ones facing court .

Sources

• “Right-wing activists James O’Keefe, Cam Higby charged with unlawfully voting in Minnesota” — New York Post: source
• “James O’Keefe charged with unlawful voting and identity theft in Minnesota” — NBC News: source
• “James O’Keefe and Cam Higby charged with unlawful voting for YouTube videos” — MPR News: source
• NY Post on X, October 28, 2026: source