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Activist James O’Keefe and right-leaning influencer Cam Higby were charged Wednesday with felony unlawful voting and identity theft after prosecutors say they used other people’s names at Minneapolis polling places during Minnesota’s August primary.

Getting into it: Hennepin County Attorney Mary Moriarty said the two went into polling places on Aug. 11 wearing what O’Keefe called “Muslim garb,” including a veil over Higby’s face, using fake accents and hidden cameras, and identified themselves to poll workers using real voters’ names and addresses without asking them. Moriarty said they also used the names of dead voters.

The pair were trying to expose what they called flaws in Minnesota’s vouching law, which allows a registered voter to vouch for as many as eight new residents of their precinct so they can vote there. Neither man got as far as signing the oath or casting a ballot, but prosecutors say misrepresenting your identity while applying for a ballot is a crime on its own. Each faces one count of each charge, carrying up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine per count, and they’re due in court Nov. 16.

In response, O’Keefe said in a video posted Wednesday night that the charges were meant to distract from what he called insecure elections in Minnesota. He added, “This is an attempt to criminalize investigative journalism.”

Despite this, Moriarty said the costumes and the men’s politics played no role in the charges and that the timing, less than a week before the midterms, was a coincidence.

Higby said he never voted, never signed anything and never broke the law, and launched a $20,000 fundraiser for legal costs. As of this post, he’s raised about $10,000.