Michigan Attorney General announces charges against 16 ‘false electors’

LANSING — Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced felony charges against 16 Michigan residents on Tuesday for their role in the alleged false electors scheme following the 2020 U.S. presidential election.

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.

“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,” said Nessel in a statement. "My department has prosecuted numerous cases of election law violations throughout my tenure, and it would be malfeasance of the greatest magnitude if my department failed to act here in the face of overwhelming evidence of an organized effort to circumvent the lawfully cast ballots of millions of Michigan voters in a presidential election.”

According to Nessel's office, these defendants are alleged to have met covertly in the basement of the Michigan Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020 where they 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.” Nessel's office said these false documents were then transmitted to the U.S. Senate and National Archives in a coordinated effort to award the state’s electoral votes to the candidate of their choosing, in place of the candidates actually elected by the people of Michigan.

“The evidence will demonstrate there was no legal authority for the false electors to purport to act as ‘duly elected presidential electors’ and execute the false electoral documents,” Nessel said. “Every serious challenge to the election had been denied, dismissed, or otherwise rejected by the time the false electors convened. 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. That the effort failed and democracy prevailed does not erase the crimes of those who enacted the false electors plot.”

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More: Charlevoix man denies wrongdoing despite signing illegitimate election document

Charlevoix's John Haggard is among the charged group that signed an Electoral College certificate attempting to award the state’s 16 votes to Donald Trump following the 2020 election.

Haggard would have been one of the electors — representing the 1st District — sent to vote on Michigan’s behalf in the Electoral College had Trump won the election.

In a 2022 News-Review article, Haggard admitted to signing the document, but said he was not one of the illegitimate delegates at the Capitol on Dec. 14, 2020.

Haggard said he had an uncertainty as to whether the election document was going to be certified, but noted that “our paperwork had to be signed either way.”

"Did I read it? Hell no," he said.

According to Nessel's statement, each defendant, or their attorneys, have been notified of the charges and the court will provide each with a date to appear before the 54-A District Court in Ingham County for arraignment.

This remains an ongoing investigation, and the Michigan Department of Attorney General has not ruled out potential charges against additional defendants.  Each of the 16 charged defendants will next appear in 54-A District Court in Ingham County for individual arraignments.  No dates have yet been set by the court for subsequent proceedings.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Michigan Attorney General announces charges against 16 ‘false electors’