16 MI False Trump Electors Charged In 2020 Election Scheme

MICHIGAN — More than a dozen residents from Michigan are facing felony charges after officials said they participated in a scheme to falsely award the state's Electoral College votes to former President Donald Trump in the 2020 U.S. Presidential Election, according to the Michigan Attorney's General Office.

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced the charges Tuesday afternoon after investigating the matter for months. Although Democrat Joe Biden won Michigan by 154,000 votes, or 3 percentage points, Trump and some supporters maintained false and unproven claims that fraud swung the result.

"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," Nessel said in a statement.

The 16 men and women who were charged 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 person was charged with one count of conspiracy to commit forgery, two counts of forgery, one count of conspiracy to commit uttering and publishing, one count of conspiracy to commit election law forgery and two counts of election law forgery.

"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," Nessel added.