16 Michigan residents face felony charges for fake electors scheme after 2020 election

Washington — Sixteen Michigan residents are facing felony charges for falsely claiming to be presidential electors for former President Donald Trump after he lost the 2020 election and submitting documents certifying they were the electors to the Senate and National Archives, Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced Tuesday.

Each of 16 alleged "false electors" have been charged with eight felony counts, Nessel's office said, including conspiracy to commit forgery, forgery, conspiracy to commit election law forgery and election law forgery. Five of the criminal violations are 14-year felonies. Among those charged are Kathleen Berden, 70, a Republican National Committee member, and Meshawn Maddock, 55, former co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party.

"The false electors' actions undermined the public's faith in the integrity of our elections and, we believe, also plainly violated the laws by which we administer our elections in Michigan," Nessel said.

According to a 14-page affidavit, the GOP nominees for electors "were not the duly elected presidential electors and had no legal authority to act as duly elected presidential electors," as the Michigan Board of State Canvassers certified that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris won the state's election for president and vice president.

Still, the fake electors met at the Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, the same day members of the real Electoral College met in states across the country to cast their votes and secure Mr. Biden's victory in the presidential election. The affidavit said the phony electors signed a document titled "Certificate of The Votes of The 2020 Electors From Michigan" that falsely claimed they were the legitimate electors for president and vice president from Michigan. 

On Jan. 5, 2021, the National Archives received the certificate signed by the 16 Republicans purporting to be Michigan's electors, which also certified that they convened at the state Capitol on Dec. 14. According to the affidavit, the signers attested that they "proceeded to vote by ballot, and balloted first for President and then for Vice President, by distinct ballots," with the state's 16 electoral votes for Trump and running mate Mike Pence.

The false certificate of votes, signed by Berden and Mayra Rodriguez, who is among the 16 charged, was also transmitted to the president of the Senate.

The affidavit was authored by a special agent investigator with the Michigan Department of Attorney General tasked with examining the false certificate of votes submitted in support of Trump and Pence.

"Over the course of the investigation, it was discovered that a fraudulent 'Certificate of Votes of the 2020 Electors from Michigan' was created; that none of the sixteen signatories to this document were lawfully selected electors for the offices of President and Vice-President; and that the document was made and published with the intent to defraud the National Archives, President of the U.S. Senate, and others," the affidavit states.

Nessel said in a statement that there was "no legitimate legal avenue or plausible use of such a document or an alternative slate of electors. There was only the desperate effort of these defendants, who we have charged with deliberately attempting to interfere with and overturn our free and fair election process, and along with it, the will of millions of Michigan voters."

The slates of fake electors were one aspect of a multi-pronged effort mounted by Trump and his allies to thwart the transfer of power and keep the former president in office after the 2020 election. In addition to the 16 alternate electors in Michigan, other groups met in Nevada, Georgia and Arizona to sign certificates falsely asserting that Trump won their respective states' presidential elections and declaring that they were the "duly and qualified" electors.

The documents sent to the Senate and the National Archives were ignored by federal officials, and Congress reaffirmed Mr. Biden's victory in the early hours of Jan. 7, 2021, after the proceedings were disrupted by the storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump's supporters.

Law enforcement officials in Georgia and Arizona are investigating the schemes to reverse the outcome of the elections of their states, which Mr. Biden won.

A federal investigation, led by special counsel Jack Smith, into the attempts to thwart the transfer of presidential power is also ongoing. Trump revealed Tuesday that he received a letter informing him that he is the target of the federal probe into the efforts to reverse the outcome of the 2020 election.