Inside the attorney general’s case against Michigan’s false electors
- Published: Jul. 18, 2023, 7:07 p.m.
LANSING, MI – Sixteen Michiganders, from local conservatives to a former co-chair of the state Republican Party, each face several felonies for trying to overturn the 2020 election.
Attorney General Dana Nessel on Tuesday charged everyone who signed a false certificate claiming they were Michigan’s Electoral College voters with six felonies each.
Go deeper: 16 people face felonies in 2020 Michigan false electors scheme
Nessel, in a lengthy statement, said she intends to prove that the 16 defendants knowingly lied via that false document and acted with intent to defraud when they presented themselves as electors of President Donald Trump, even though Joe Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes.
They also, she added, formed an unlawful conspiracy.
Each person, from former MIGOP co-chair Meshawn Maddock to current Wyoming mayor Kent Vanderwood, faces eight charges in Ingham County District Court once they are arraigned at a later date:
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Forgery, a 14-year felony (and/or $10,000 fine)
- Two counts of Forgery, a 14-year felony.
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Uttering and Publishing, a 14-year felony (and/or $10,000 fine)
- One count of Uttering and Publishing, a 14-year felony.
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Election Law Forgery, a 5-year felony (and/or $10,000 fine)
- Two counts of Election Law Forgery, a 5-year felony (and/or $1,000 fine)
Some people will claim these charges are political, the Democratic attorney general said, but “where there is overwhelming evidence of guilt in respect to multiple crimes, the most political act I could engage in as a prosecutor would be to take no action at all.”
Backing up Nessel’s case in an affidavit, lead investigator Special Agent Howard Shock attests that the alternate Electoral College document broke the law and that signees knowingly participated.
The U.S. Constitution and Michigan Election Law provide clear instruction for how Electoral College voting should take place, with the slate representing the presidential election winner as certified by the Board of State Canvassers. That slate is also further signed by the governor.
On the afternoon of Dec. 14, 2020, both sets of electors met in Lansing. But while the Democrats went inside the Capitol to formally cast their votes, Republicans met at MIGOP headquarters to sign the fake document.
“The candidates for elector and the MIGOP leadership knew prior to their meeting on December 14, 2020, there was no legal reason to create an alternate slate of electors,” Shock wrote.
False claims in that document, he says, include that they were qualified electors and that they met in the Capitol on Dec. 14. Some of the signees, as has been publicly known, went to the Capitol to get inside and cast their fake votes, but they were turned away by state police.
With them that day was Grand Rapids attorney Ian Northon, who Shock says tried to deliver an envelope with the false certificate to the state Senate but was not allowed inside. On Jan. 5, 2021, the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) received via mail that same envelope, and the agency sent that document to Nessel’s office.
The U.S. Senate, which oversaw final approval of electoral votes, also received a copy via mail. Like the envelope NARA got, it was sent from a post office in East Lansing.
Further bolstering the case, Shock says he interviewed multiple MIGOP staffers, including those present for the signing meetup. And a state police forensic scientist confirmed the signatures of eight signees.
The investigation included a warrant for text messages sent by signee Kathleen Berden, an MIGOP national committeewoman. On Dec. 14, according to Shock’s affidavit, she texted fellow signee John Haggard complaining that Maddock was posting about the plans publicly on Facebook “even though we were all asked to keep silent.”
The next day, Maddock and another false elector – current MIGOP grassroots vice chair Marian Sheridan – talked about their involvement on a conservative web show. Two others, Stanley Grot and Kenneth Thompson, confirmed involvement in news articles.
At least one false elector, Michele Lundgren, has claimed she was coaxed into coming to Lansing to sign the false elector document. She has claimed she did not know of the wording of the statement and instead saw essentially a sign-in sheet.
Related: Mayor of Wyoming among 16 charged in 2020 Michigan false electors scheme
Tuesday’s charges are the latest step in the investigation Nessel reopened at the start of this year after Congress released its full report on Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election and how they culminated in the U.S. Capitol riot on Jan. 6, 2021.
Nessel and other attorneys general had been investigating false elector slates but referred their probes to the U.S. Department of Justice. With federal action uncertain, Nessel reopened her investigation.
“While today we are announcing charges against these 16 defendants, this remains an ongoing investigation, and our department has not ruled out potential charges against additional defendants,” Nessel said Tuesday.
“I look forward to presenting the evidence in court and to a swift, speedy, and deliberate resolution that best serves the interests of justice.”
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