On Tuesday, July 18 Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced that 16 people were indicted on multiple felony counts related to their involvement in an alleged false elector scheme after the 2020 presidential election.
These people included Kathy Berden, the Republican National Committeewoman and Meshawn Maddock, co-chair of the Michigan Republican Party.
The charges brought against them included forgery and conspiracy to commit forgery which carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison.
Nessel’s office claims they have “overwhelming evidence” that these individuals sought to violate the votes of millions of Michigan citizens by forming a scheme where they falsely claimed to be electors in order to illegally award electoral college votes for Donald Trump.
She further alleges that these individuals met at the headquarters of the Michigan GOP where they signed certificates claiming themselves as “duly elected and qualified electors” despite not being legally appointed.
One person involved has publicly stated she thought she was merely signing an attendance sheet for a meeting and had no idea what an elector was or that she was falsely claiming herself as one.
Republicans have reacted strongly to this news, stating that it is unfair for Democrats to pursue legal action against those who believed they were performing lawful actions in support of President Trump’s reelection campaign.
Some argue that these individuals are simply innocent volunteers who made honest mistakes while trying to help out their party during a difficult time and should not be heavily prosecuted or punished as if they are sophisticated criminals engaged in criminal activity.
Others argue Nessel is overreaching her authority by prosecuting these individuals because there is no clear proof or evidence that any laws were broken or any fraud occurred beyond some minor paperwork issues which could easily be resolved without heavy punishments from the state government.
In either case, it will now be up to our court system decide how serious these offenses really were and how much punishment each individual defendant deserves if convicted.
