The Fake Electors Scheme: A Documented Criminal Conspiracy
Following the 2020 election, Trump allies orchestrated a scheme to submit fraudulent Electoral College certificates in seven states where Biden won. Multiple participants have been convicted and sentenced to prison. This was not a protest or a good-faith legal argument — it was a criminal conspiracy documented in court records.
“"We were just pursuing legitimate legal remedies to contest a stolen election. The electors were exercising their rights."”
State and federal prosecutors charged participants in the fake electors scheme with fraud, forgery, and conspiracy in multiple states. Participants in Michigan, Georgia, Nevada, and Arizona face or have faced criminal charges. Several have pled guilty and received prison sentences. Federal courts have described the scheme as having no legal basis.
After the 2020 election, Trump allies organized a plan in which Republican electors in seven states — Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin — signed and submitted fraudulent Electoral College certificates to the National Archives falsely claiming that Donald Trump had won those states. Biden had won all seven. The certificates were submitted in an attempt to provide legal cover for Vice President Mike Pence to either count the fraudulent certificates or delay the certification on January 6, 2021.
The legal theory underlying the scheme — that alternate slates of electors could be submitted and acted upon — was rejected by Pence's own counsel, the White House Counsel's office, and eventually by multiple federal and state courts. Pence refused to act on the fake certificates, a decision documented in his own account and confirmed by contemporaneous White House communications.
Criminal accountability has followed. In Michigan, eight Republicans who signed the fake certificates were charged with election law crimes including forgery. Several reached plea deals. In Georgia, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman (the attorney who authored the legal memo supporting the scheme), Jenna Ellis, and 16 co-defendants were indicted under RICO statutes. Ellis and others pled guilty. In Nevada, six Republicans who signed the fake certificates were indicted on multiple felony counts including offering a false instrument for filing.
At the federal level, the Special Counsel's indictment of Donald Trump included counts related to the fake electors scheme as part of a broader obstruction of the electoral certification. The case was ultimately dismissed on grounds unrelated to the merits of the underlying factual allegations — the dismissal did not constitute a finding that the conduct did not occur.
The scheme is notable not because of its success — it failed — but because of what it represents: a coordinated, multi-state effort by people in positions of political trust to substitute fraudulent documents for legitimate electoral results. Court records, guilty pleas, and prison sentences constitute the factual record.
Fraudulent Electoral College certificates were submitted in 7 states where Biden won: AZ, GA, MI, NV, NM, PA, and WI
In Michigan, 8 Republicans who signed fake certificates were criminally charged; several pled guilty
In Georgia, Rudy Giuliani, John Eastman, Jenna Ellis and others were indicted on RICO charges; Ellis and others pled guilty
In Nevada, 6 Republicans who signed fake certificates were indicted on multiple felony counts
VP Mike Pence refused to act on the fake certificates, later confirming he had no legal authority to do so
Sources
Michigan Attorney General's press release announcing criminal charges against 16 Republicans who signed fake Electoral College certificates in Michigan following the 2020 election.
The full Fulton County RICO indictment of Donald Trump and 18 co-defendants, including John Eastman, Rudy Giuliani, and Jenna Ellis, documenting the fake electors scheme as a predicate act.
Nevada Attorney General's announcement of felony indictments against six Republicans who signed fraudulent Electoral College certificates submitted to the National Archives.