Post-Certification Felony Indictment of 16 Alternate Republican Electors (MI)

Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel indicted 16 alternate Republican electors on felony forgery and conspiracy charges arising from their assembly on December 14, 2020, to cast a provisional electoral slate preserving constitutional options for Congress. The alternate elector mechanism has historical precedent – including in 1960 in Hawaii, where a similar provisional slate was used – and was utilized in coordination with pending federal litigation challenging Michigan’s certification. The prosecutions were initiated years after the events, following the national political transition. Whether the prosecutions constitute legitimate election law enforcement or a retroactive criminalization of constitutional contingency procedures – functioning as a deterrent against future deployment of this remedy – requires independent evaluation of prosecutorial intent and coordination.