Two years after charges, Michigan’s 2020 'fake electors' case drags on

• Nearly two years after charges were first filed, a decision to bring Michigan’s 15 “fake electors” to trial could be coming in September
• Defendants stand accused of felonies for signing a document that claimed Donald Trump won Michigan’s 2020 election 
• While attorneys continue to maintain their clients’ innocence, pro-democracy groups say someone needs to be held accountable

LANSING — Nearly two years after Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel charged "fake electors" for allegedly attempting to overturn Donald Trump's 2020 election loss, a judge has yet to decide whether there is enough evidence to send any of the 15 remaining defendants to trial. 

The glacial pace of the case has frustrated some defendants — who contend they did nothing illegal — and pro-democracy groups, which argue accountability is important for the state and country. 

“It is extraordinary,” said George Brown, an attorney for defendant Mari-Ann Henry, treasurer of the 7th Congressional District Republican Committee. “I’ve never seen a case take this long in district court like this.”

Brown and another defense attorney who spoke to Bridge Michigan now believe Lansing 54-A District Court Judge Kristin Simmons will decide this fall whether the case will proceed. She recently scheduled a Sept. 9 hearing.  

Nessel's office confirmed the planned hearing, but a spokesperson told Bridge the department is still awaiting "further instruction or detail as to the purpose.”

The case stems back to December of 2020, when the defendants allegedly signed a document claiming Trump had won Michigan's presidential election despite his 154,188-vote loss to Democrat Joe Biden.

In a series of preliminary exams that began in December 2023 and concluded in October 2024, prosecutors argued there is ample evidence the defendants knowingly committed forgery by sending a slate of false electors to the National Archives and Congress.

"From a democracy point of view, there should be accountability here," said Hank Mayers, president and founder of the nonpartisan group Michiganders for Fair and Transparent Elections.

“By all appearances, what they were doing was absolutely wrong,” he said. “Michigan’s vote was clear, unequivocal, in terms of the final count … That should be addressed, no doubt about it.”

Where we last left off

During pre-trial examinations, the state outlined how the would-be electors met at Michigan Republican Party headquarters in Lansing to sign a document that lawmakers could consider as a potential alternative to a Democratic slate of electors that would be awarded to Biden. 

That certificate was then delivered to the National Archives and US Senate before Congress certified the election on Jan. 6, 2021, when conspiracies about Trump’s election loss culminated in riots at the US Capitol. 

James Renner, of Lansing, was initially charged in the case, but charges against him were dropped as part of a cooperation deal with the Department of Attorney General. 

Related:

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• Michigan ‘fake elector’ judge threatens contempt for witness intimidation

Each remaining defendant has pleaded not guilty, some suggesting they didn’t know what they were signing or believed they were simply preparing an “alternate slate” of electors should courts overturn the election results. 

But Nessel, a Democrat, has argued their actions “undermined the public’s faith in the integrity of our elections” and warrant criminal prosecution.

Defendants in the case include former Michigan GOP Co-chair Meshawn Maddock, former Republican National Committee member Kathy Berden and Shelby Township Clerk Stan Grot, who was stripped of his election administration duties by the state in 2023 because of the ongoing case. 

Others include Henry, ex-Grand Blanc Community Schools board member Amy Facchinello, Wyoming Mayor Kent Vanderwood, John Haggard of Charlevoix, Michele Lundgren of Detroit, Clifford Frost of Warren, Hank Choate of Cement City, Mayra Rodriguez of Grosse Pointe Farms, Rose Rook of Paw Paw, Marian Sheridan of West Bloomfield, Timothy King of Ypsilanti and Ken Thompson of Orleans.

Attorney George Donnini, who is representing Berden in the case, told Bridge on Wednesday that he also couldn’t speculate on why the case has dragged out for nearly two years, but assumed Judge Kristin Simmons “is doing her best to render a judgment based on the law.” 

“Dates move all the time,” he added, referring to the fact that some electors were set to be back in court on Thursday before that hearing was cancelled and a new one moved to September. 

“I don’t know that we can really read anything into that, necessarily.” 

A failed appeal

At the same time, Michigan is also working through another 2020 election-related case which remains unresolved: tabulator tampering. 

Attorney Stephanie Lambert is heading to trial for her role in an alleged effort to seize and access vote counting machines after the 2020 election; two others accused in the plot — attorney Matt DePerno and Republican ex-State Rep. Daire Rendon — have since had their cases remanded to lower courts for preliminary examinations.

Michigan is among seven states that Biden won in 2020 but Republicans convened their own set of Trump electors. 

Prosecutors in five states have filed charges against electors. In two others, Pennsylvania and New Mexico, electors had explicit language in their certificates noting they would only count if courts overturned Biden’s loss.

The Trump administration's new chief pardon attorney is reportedly considering a plan to grant clemency to the so-called fake electors. That would be largely symbolic, however, because it would not impact state-level charges like those in Michigan.

The Michigan case may have been slowed by a federal appeal from Frost, the Warren defendant, who had sought to dismiss the charges. 

His attorney argued the state was attempting "to criminalize what was at most a futile political protest," and that actions of the defendants did not amount to forgery. 

But a US Court of Appeals panel denied his request in April, ruling he failed to show why a federal court should intervene in the state case. 

Michigan groups like Voters Not Politicians, which advocates for Michigan voters, are still hoping for convictions. 

"Those who try to subvert the will of Michigan voters must be held accountable,” said Christy McGillivray, VNP’s executive director.

Slow going 

The Michigan elector case is not the only one taking longer than some had expected. 

In Arizona, state prosecutors recently sent their “fake electors” case back to a grand jury after an Arizona judge determined in May that prosecutors failed to show the jury language of a federal statute which spells out how presidential electoral votes are cast and counted.

Georgia, meanwhile, has struggled to bring its case to trial and the matter is currently at a standstill. Some of the defendants were granted immunity as part of a cooperation deal with state prosecutors. 

Other Trump allies, such as former Trump attorneys Sidney Powell and Kenneth Chesebro, have pleaded guilty for their role in working to overturn Georgia’s 2020 presidential election results. 

Chesebro was subsequently disbarred by a New York appeals court last month; Powell still retains her Texas law license after an attempt at disbarment in January but still faces potential discipline in Michigan.

In Nevada, a judge threw out an electors case last year, ruling it was filed in the wrong venue. State prosecutors are again attempting to seek criminal charges but face some roadblocks because of the statute of limitations. 

The only state to resolve a 2020 electors case thus far is Wisconsin, where state prosecutors settled with 10 defendants required to acknowledge Biden’s win and agree to not act as electors again. Criminal charges against three lawyers and political aides to Trump are, however, still being pursued.