CHARGED OVER A POLLING-PLACE STUNT: O'Keefe and Higby Face Felony Counts in Minnesota

Minnesota prosecutors have charged conservative activist James O'Keefe and influencer Cam Higby with felony unlawful voting and identity theft over a hidden-camera polling-place stunt. Neither man actually voted, prosecutors say — but they say misrepresenting yourself while applying for a ballot is enough.

Minnesota prosecutors have charged conservative activist James O'Keefe and influencer Cam Higby with felony unlawful voting and identity theft, over a hidden-camera stunt at Minneapolis polling places during the August primary.

Prosecutors say the pair posed as registered voters at polling places in a stunt designed to test Minnesota's vouching system, under which a registered voter can vouch for another person's residency at the polls.

Neither man actually voted, prosecutors say. The charges rest on the allegation that misrepresenting yourself while applying for a ballot is itself a crime, even when no ballot is ultimately cast.

The charges are accusations, not convictions, and the cases will proceed through the courts, where the defendants will have the opportunity to respond to the allegations.

The stunt and the charges land in the middle of a long-running national debate over election procedures, in which hidden-camera investigations have repeatedly been used to test — and to challenge — how polling places verify voters.

Minnesota's vouching system has been a particular flashpoint in that debate, defended by its supporters as a way to make sure eligible voters are not turned away, and criticized by its opponents as a weak point in voter verification.

For now, the legal question is narrower than that debate: whether posing as a registered voter to apply for a ballot, without voting, amounts to unlawful voting and identity theft under Minnesota law. That is what prosecutors will now have to prove.

Reporting: Reuters