GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WXMI) — Sixteen Michigan Republicans have been named in a "fake elector scheme" lawsuit after they submitted official documents falsely claiming Donald Trump won the 2020 presidential election.
The lawsuit was filed Wednesday in Kent County Circuit Court by three Democratic presidential electors who accuse the Republicans of "participating in a fraudulent scheme to steal the election and install the losing candidate as President.”
The plaintiffs, Blake Mazurek, Robin Smith and Timothy Smith, were Democratic electors in 2020. According to their lawsuit, the GOP electors claimed they were the duly elected and qualified electors for president and conspired to submit fraudulent election certificates, falsely claiming their candidate had won the election.
The Democratic electorate in Michigan had already filed their official documents for now-Preisdent Joe Biden.
The lawsuit explains that, "following the procedure mandated by Michigan Election Law, the slate of electors nominated by the Democratic Party and elected in the general election held in the State of Michigan duly convened in the State Capitol in Lansing on December 14, 2020, at 2 p.m., and formally cast their 16 electoral votes for Joe Biden for President of the United States. This is reflected in the State of Michigan Certificate of Votes for President and Vice President attached here as Exhibit B."
However, the lawsuit says the Republican electorates, "convened and organized in the State Capitol on December 14, 2020 to cast Michigan's 16 electoral votes for Donald Trump, when in fact none of this was true. "
Allegedly, the Republican electorates made a fake election "certificate signed by the defendants and styled 'Certificate of the Votes of the 2020 Electors from Michigan, which they offered as an official public record."
The 16 defendants are listed as Kathy Berden, Mayra Rodriguez, Meshawn Maddock, John Haggard, Kent Vanderwood, Marian Sheridan, James Renner, Amy Facchinello, Rose Rook, Hank Choate, Mari-Ann Henry, Clifford Frost, Stanley Grot, Timothy King, Michele Lundgren and Ken Thompson.
The plaintiffs are asking, among other things, for $25,000 in damages and for the judge to declare the fake elector scheme illegal.
The court documents can be found below:
