LANSING, Mich. — Three of Michigan's presidential electors who cast votes for Democrat Joe Biden in 2020 filed a lawsuit this week against a group of 16 Republicans who submitted official documents falsely claiming Donald Trump had won the state.
The filing in Kent County Circuit Court added to the potential legal troubles for the slate of GOP electors who signed a certificate that attempted to direct the state's 16 electoral votes to Trump after the Republican president had lost Michigan by 154,000 votes, or 3 percentage points, in the certified results.
The three Democratic electors — Blake Mazurek of Kent County, Robin Smith of Ingham County and Timothy Smith and Ottawa County — are seeking damages amounting to at least $25,000 and a declaration from a judge that the "fake elector scheme was illegal under Michigan law."
"Plaintiffs suffered humiliation, mental anguish and stress as a result of being cast in the false light created by defendants' election fraud and lies," the new lawsuit, filed Wednesday, said.
The lawsuit came five days after Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel announced she was reopening her office's investigation into the Republican electors.
Nessel previously referred the matter to federal prosecutors. But she cited new documents released by a U.S. House committee and said there was "clear evidence to support charges" against the group of Republicans who signed a document that was submitted to the National Archives and was intended to help Trump supporters challenge his loss to Biden.
"I think that type of activity can't go without any consequences," Nessel said.
Republicans have accused Nessel of playing politics with the electors investigation. And some of the GOP electors have said they didn't know what they were signing when they met in the basement of state Republican Party headquarters on Dec. 14, 2020. The Republican convening came the same day the state's true electors were gathering in the state Capitol.
One Republican elector, Michele Lundgren of Detroit, has said she thought she was merely putting her name on a sign-in sheet.
But the new lawsuit contended the Republicans' "scheme attempted to subvert the sacred right of qualified voters in Michigan, enshrined in the state Constitution, to have their votes counted."
The GOP electors violated multiple criminal laws, including state laws against election law forgery and obstructing or attempting to obstruct "any elector in the exercise" of their duties, according to the Democratic suit.
