Michigan charges 16 fraudulent electors in 2020 plan to keep Donald Trump in White House

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A group of Michigan Republicans who allegedly impersonated members of the electoral college after the 2020 election are now facing felony charges.

Prosecutors allege that 16 people, including former state Republican Party co-chair Meshawn Maddock, tried to award the state’s electoral college votes to Donald Trump. That’s despite him losing the state by about 154,000 votes.

Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the charges Tuesday in a video. He said the defendants were trying to undermine the democratic process.

No doubt, there are those who say these allegations are political in nature, but where there is overwhelming evidence of guilt in relation to multiple crimes, the most political action I can take as a prosecutor is to take no action, Nessel. said.

Each defendant faces a total of eight counts. That includes:

one count of conspiracy to commit forgery; two counts of forgery, one count of conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing, one count of uttering and publishing, one count of conspiracy to commit election fraud, and two counts of election fraud.

The longest sentence associated with the charges is 14 years. The charges stem from December 2020, when a group appeared outside the state capitol in Lansing attempting to cast their own electoral college votes in a memo addressed to the President of the US Senate, US Archivist , the Michigan Secretary of State and the chief judge of the US District Court in the Western District of Michigan.

State police cleared most of the Capitol, despite a number of Republican state lawmakers among them. Nessel said the memo’s signatories eventually sent it to the US Senate and National Archives.

That the effort failed, and democracy prevailed does not erase the crimes of those who implemented false electors who planned to subvert the election and avoid the will of Michigan voters, Nessel said.

Nessel said more charges could come in the case.

The saga involving the memo signatories has already seen them subpoenaed by the US House Select committee on January 6 and one member of the group potentially facing sanctions from the state’s Attorney Discipline Board.

The Attorney Generals office said no dates have yet been set for each defendant to appear individually in Ingham County Court.

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