Judge dismisses cases against 2020 Michigan alternate electors

A judge on Tuesday dismissed the cases against Michigan alternate electors for the 2020 presidential election.

Prosecutors had alleged that the electors were involved in efforts to overturn former President Joe Biden's 2020 election win in the state, NBC News reported.

"These cases will not be bound over to the circuit court," said Judge Kristen Simmons, a state district court judge appointed by Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer. "Each case will be dismissed."

Simmons said the Michigan Republicans were trying to seek redress after President Donald Trump’s loss and attempted to perform their civic duties.

"The prosecution would like the court to believe that these named defendants were savvy or sophisticated enough to understand fully the electoral process, which the court does disagree with because the document that was presented doesn't even align with the level of sophistication that they want me to believe," Simmons said before handing down her ruling.

"This alternate document doesn't state it's an official document of the state of Michigan," she also said, pointing out that the electors did not attempt to forge the governor's signature or create a fake seal.

“This is a fraud case, and we have to prove intent, and I don’t believe that there’s evidence sufficient to prove intent,” Simmons said.

She also said she believed there was not enough evidence to establish that the Republican electors were trained, understood their duties, and knew how the electoral system worked.

Simmons also said that the defendants "sincerely" believed that the 2020 presidential election had "serious irregularities."

"This is not for the court to decide whether that was true or false, but this was their belief, and their actions were prompted by this belief," she said.

Democratic Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel called the ruling "disappointing," saying her office would determine at a "later time" whether she would appeal.

"The evidence was clear: They lied. They knew they lied, and they tried to steal the votes of millions of Michiganders," Nessel said of the Republicans. "And if they can get away with this, well, what can they get away with next?"

"This was, in my belief, a coordinated attempt to overturn the will of the American people and reinstate Donald Trump as president, despite Joe Biden's victory in the election to that office," she added.

Nessel also referred to judges' "fear of retaliation and the ongoing intimidation of threats."

In 2023, Nessel became the first state attorney general to charge alternate electors. 

She filed charges against 16 electors for allegedly trying to overturn the results of the 2020 election by signing paperwork falsely claiming that Trump had won. Each defendant was charged with eight felonies, and all initially pleaded not guilty. One defendant's charges were dropped after he agreed to fully cooperate with the investigation.