Activists Who Posed as Minnesota Voters May Face Charges

A group calling itself the Citizen Justice League filmed undercover activists impersonating registered Minnesota voters during the state's primary, in a video that has now been viewed more than 7 million times and could expose participants to felony charges.

The video shows activists, some wearing what they described as Muslim costumes and using fake accents, claiming to be Minnesota voters vouching for others under the state's 53-year-old voter voucher law. That law allows a registered voter to vouch that another person lives at a given address, typically to help people who recently moved to the state. It does not permit impersonating an actual, named voter.

Among those shown in the footage is James O'Keefe, the ousted founder of Project Veritas and now head of O'Keefe Media Group, who falsely identified himself to election officials as William Pomeranz. The real Pomeranz told CBS News Minnesota he learned about the impersonation from a student who saw the video online.

"I actually had a student contact me that had showed me what was online about my identity being misrepresented. So, that was pretty much a shock. I found out on Friday," Pomeranz said.

The activists did not go on to cast fraudulent ballots. Poll workers reported the incident, and Pomeranz said he was later able to vote without issue.

"Kudos to the poll workers. They reported it afterwards, and frankly, I got to vote that evening without a problem. So, you know, the voting process, in my mind, worked," Pomeranz said.

David Schultz, a constitutional law professor at Hamline University, said the conduct shown appears to violate state law. "It's illegal in the state of Minnesota to impersonate another voter, and this is apparently what O'Keefe did," he said.

Minnesota Secretary of State Steve Simon agreed. "As I read the law, you can't impersonate another registered voter, and that's exactly what they appear to have filmed themselves doing," he said.

Impersonating a voter at a Minnesota polling place is a felony carrying a maximum sentence of seven years in prison and a fine of up to $20,000. CBS News Minnesota said it had reached out to the Citizen Justice League for comment and was awaiting a response.