UPDATE 7/19/23 6:30 p.m.
Sixteen Michiganders, including one from Northern Michigan, are facing felony election fraud charges stemming from the 2020 election.
Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the charges late Tuesday. She says the 16 people falsely claimed to be duly elected electors for the electoral college vote and signed certificates saying so, all in an attempt to fraud and override the election results.
The charged defendants are:
- Kathy Berden, 70, of Snover
- William (Hank) Choate, 72, of Cement City
- Amy Facchinello, 55, of Grand Blanc
- Clifford Frost, 75, of Warren
- Stanley Grot, 71, of Shelby Township
- John Haggard, 82, of Charlevoix
- Mary-Ann Henry, 65, of Brighton
- Timothy King, 56, of Ypsilanti
- Michele Lundgren, 73, of Detroit
- Meshawn Maddock, 55, of Milford
- James Renner, 76, of Lansing
- Mayra Rodriguez, 64, of Grosse Pointe Farms
- Rose Rook, 81, of Paw Paw
- Marian Sheridan, 69, of West Bloomfield
- Ken Thompson, 68, of Orleans
- Kent Vanderwood, 69, of Wyoming
Each defendant has been charged with:
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Forgery, a 14-year felony,
- Two counts of Forgery, a 14-year felony,
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Uttering and Publishing, a 14-year felony,
- One count of Uttering and Publishing, a 14-year felony,
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Election Law Forgery, a 5-year felony, and,
- Two counts of Election Law Forgery, a 5-year felony.
“There’s a clear, it seems, intent to fraud here,” said Michael McDaniel, a constitutional law professor at the WMU Cooley Law School in Lansing.
In the 2020 electoral college vote, Michigan had 16 votes, one for each congressional district and the two senators. The party of the winning candidate gets to send their electors to the Michigan State Capitol to cast those votes officially.
In December 2020, Democrats did so, while a group of Republicans tried to gain access and cast their own votes. The 16 Republicans who signed those certificates have now been charged.
“We allege that 16 Michigan residents, met covertly in the basement of the Michigan GOP headquarters and knowingly, of their own volition, signed their names to multiple certificates, stating that they were the duly elected in qualified electors,” said Nessel.
The criminal complaint states the accused signed certificates and tried to march on the Capitol. When denied access, they sent their signed certificates to Washington D.C. just as the Democrats officially did.
“First off is the fact that it’s being done at the GOP headquarters,” said McDaniel. “The electors are supposed to sign their certificates, it’s supposed to be done at the Capitol building so that wasn’t done.”
He said the evidence in the complaint reached the level of fraud once the certificates were filed.
“Once they’re sent anywhere, or forwarded as purportedly part of the election process, that’s sufficient for publication,” said McDaniel.
The accused electors who have spoken out so far have claimed they have not done anything illegal. The system is set up to protect an act like this from overturning results but McDaniel said the fact the plan wouldn’t have worked does not change the intent.
“The fact that the goals of the plan are not clear does not mean there wasn’t a criminal act,” said McDaniel, “Now whether they believed that it would work or not, I don’t think that matters.”
7/18/23 4:27 p.m.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel has announced felony charges against 16 people in connected to the reported false electors scheme following the 2020 presidential election.
The Attornery General’s Office says these 16 people met secretly in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020, and signed their names to multiple certificates stating they were the “duly elected and qualified electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America for the State of Michigan.”
These fake documents were sent to the United States Senate and National Archives in an effort to give the state’s electoral votes to Donald Trump rather than Joe Biden, the candidate who won in Michigan.
Attorney General Nessel says there is “overwhelming evidence of an organized effort to circumvent the lawfully cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election.”
Here is the list of defendants and their charges.
- Kathy Berden, 70, of Snover
- William (Hank) Choate, 72, of Cement City
- Amy Facchinello, 55, of Grand Blanc
- Clifford Frost, 75, of Warren
- Stanley Grot, 71, of Shelby Township
- John Haggard, 82, of Charlevoix
- Mary-Ann Henry, 65, of Brighton
- Timothy King, 56, of Ypsilanti
- Michele Lundgren, 73, of Detroit
- Meshawn Maddock, 55, of Milford
- James Renner, 76, of Lansing
- Mayra Rodriguez, 64, of Grosse Pointe Farms
- Rose Rook, 81, of Paw Paw
- Marian Sheridan, 69, of West Bloomfield
- Ken Thompson, 68, of Orleans
- Kent Vanderwood, 69, of Wyoming
Each defendant is charged with:
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Forgery, a 14-year felony,
- Two counts of Forgery, a 14-year felony,
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Uttering and Publishing, a 14-year felony,
- One count of Uttering and Publishing, a 14-year felony,
- One count of Conspiracy to Commit Election Law Forgery, a 5-year felony, and,
- Two counts of Election Law Forgery, a 5-year felony.
