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More than a dozen people who were part of the “fake electors” scheme in 2020 will serve as official electors for Donald Trump in key swing states such as Pennsylvania, Nevada, Georgia and Michigan during the election season.
At least 14 of the 82 electors chosen to represent the Republican Party – and pledge their vote to Trump should their state vote that way – are tied to “fake elector” schemes in various states, some currently under criminal prosecution.
Another 16 are election deniers who believe President Joe Biden won in 2020 because of mass fraudulent voting, according to a survey conducted by CNN.
Electors are people closely tied to the Republican or Democratic parties in their state who are nominated, chosen or voted in to represent their state’s electorate. Once a state’s popular vote determines who they want to win, an elector will cast the state’s vote for that candidate in the electoral college.
Each state has a predetermined number of electoral votes based on population.
In Pennslyvania, the commonwealth with one of the most hotly contested elections, five of the chosen Republican electors are people involved in the “fake elector” scheme.
Those people agreed to serve as “alternate” electors in the commonwealth and met on December 14, 2020, to cast electorate votes for Trump, despite Biden winning the popular vote. They then sent their votes to Mike Pence.
They did not face legal repercussions because of a caveat in their false certifications that said it was only in the event a “non-appealable court” determined Trump actually won.
Patricia Poprik, the head of the Republican Party in Bucks County who was an “alternate” elector and is part of the Republican’s official list this year, told Spotlight PA she would be “open” to carrying out a similar process this year if there was a legal dispute over the results.
“I honestly believe any electors for either party would do that,” Poprik said.
Six of Michigan’s 15 Republican electors were involved, and charged, in the “fake elector” scheme in the state. They have all pleaded not guilty to the charges.
One of those six includes Meshawn Maddock, the former co-chair of the Republican Party in Michigan.
When asked about her role serving as an elector again, Maddock told The Detroit News she would be happy to “educate” other electors about Detroit’s “late arriving absentees at 3.30am and what those really mean”.
She was seemingly referring to a conspiracy theory about ballot “dumps” – fraudulent absentee ballots that arrived the morning after Election Day in 2020 in favor of Biden.
An investigation found no evidence those ballots were fraudulent.
In Nevada, two of the state’s six electorates are individuals involved in the “fake electors” plot from 2020: Michael McDonald, the chair of the Nevada Republican Party, and Jesse Law, the chair of the Clark County Republican Party.
Both McDonald and Law were indicted in connection to the plot but the lawsuit was thrown out by a judge on jurisdiction grounds. The Nevada attorney general is currently appealing the decision.
McDonald, who serves as an advisor to Trump’s campaign, publicly vowed to deliver “100 percent” of Nevada’s delegates to Trump.
At least five election deniers are part of Georgia’s 16 electors, according to CNN.
No people involved in the “fake elector” scheme are currently electors. There is currently a criminal prosecution underway, albeit paused, regarding the scheme. Trump and 18 co-defendants were indicted in that last year. At least eight people who posed as “fake electors” were granted immunity in exchange for cooperating with the prosecution.
