The video by James O\u2019Keefe and Cam Higby centers on Minnesota voting practices allowing one to vote with no ID and to vouch for eight others<\/p>\n
Conservative US influencers James O\u2019Keefe and Cam Higby are facing felony charges over a video on Minnesota voting practices that allow one to \u201cvouch\u201d for eight others from the same precinct, while not having to show any ID.
\nTitled \u2018I Wore Burqa To EXPOSE Election FRAUD In Minneapolis\u2019, the stunt was shot during the Minnesota primary election in August. It features Higby posing as a Muslim woman dressed up in a full-face veil, with O\u2019Keefe also wearing mock Muslim attire and speaking in a thick accent.
\nUS President Donald Trump has for years alleged that Democrats have committed voter fraud, including by allegedly allowing non-citizens to participate in elections. The Republican has long advocated a standardized photo ID verification for voting.
\nOn Wednesday, the Hennepin County Attorney\u2019s Office announced that O\u2019Keefe and Higby had been charged with unlawful voting and identity theft. According to Attorney Mary Moriarty, the pair had \u201cvisited multiple precincts\u2026 and misrepresented their identities by giving election judges names of registered voters in the precinct without those voters\u2019 knowledge or permission.\u201d
\nSpeaking during a press conference, Moriarty said that summonses had been issued in both men\u2019s names. Should O\u2019Keefe and Higby fail to appear in court, an arrest warrant will follow, the official clarified.<\/p>\n
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While the Hennepin County attorney conceded that neither man signed an oath for \u2018vouching\u2019, she insisted that they still intentionally misrepresented \u201ctheir identity to election judges in applying for a ballot.\u201d
\nThe conservative influencers availed themselves of a procedure which allows a registered voter in Minnesota to vouch for up to eight other voters from the same precinct, permitting the latter to cast their ballots without any further verification. Under Minnesota law, a person vouching for someone else must sign an oath and could face charges of perjury if it turns out that they lied on it.
\nCommenting on the charges filed against him in the Democratic-run state, Higby wrote on X that he was \u201cnot afraid of Minnesota.\u201d
\nIn their video, the conservative influencers specifically state they are \u201cnot actually going to vote\u2026 [and] touch any ballots,\u201d with no intention to \u201cbreak the law [or] to commit voter fraud.\u201d<\/p>\n
The idea was rather to \u201cpoint out the vulnerabilities in the system and how easily exploitable it is,\u201d O\u2019Keefe and Higby explain.
\nHaving visited three polling stations in different precincts, the pair concluded that \u201cany person who has the address and name of another person can walk into a Minnesota\u2026 polling station and vote in that person\u2019s name without ID.\u201d
\nAdditionally, poll workers \u201cwere going to allow me to vouch for eight other people so that they could vote the same day, also without verifying their ID,\u201d Higby says in the video.
\nLate last year, Minnesota was thrust into the national spotlight after the federal authorities launched an investigation into an unrelated alleged fraud scheme involving multiple childcare centers run by locals of Somali background that appeared to be non-operational fronts.
\nThe probe followed an expose by YouTuber Nick Shirley who claimed that the alleged fraudsters had received more than $110 million in state funds for non-existent services.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The video by James O\u2019Keefe and Cam Higby centers on Minnesota voting practices allowing one to vote with no ID and to vouch for eight others Conservative US influencers James…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40784,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t